When radio broadcasting began in the early 1920s, the radio was a magic box aglow with the future, drawing humanity into a new age. Some thought it would dissolve the distance between time and place, others that human minds would become transparent, one tuned to another. Performers claiming psychic powers turned radio broadcasting into a fabulous money machine. These "mentalists," born from vaudeville, circuses, sideshows, and the Spiritualist and New Thought movements of the mid-late 19th century, used the language of wireless technology to explain their ability to see the past, present, and future. Casting their mystical knowledge as a scientifically honed craft, these mentalists persuaded millions to pay for dubious advice until governmental and public pressures forced them off the air. This book is a history of over 25 performers who practiced their art behind studio microphones during the early years of radio broadcasting, from about 1920 to 1940. Here, laid out for the first time, is the tale of how they made cash rain from the heavens and harnessed the sensation of the radio in search of wealth, health, love, and success.
During the 1850s, a surprising number of Americans believed that the spirits of the deceased could be contacted through trance mediums and seances. Many of the radical leaders of the anti-slavery movement, women's rights, the temperance movement, prison reform and labor reform were involved in spiritualism. Among the liberal religious denominations, Universalism was the one most affected by this movement. This amazing chapter in American religious history present a vast array of characters -- visionaries; prophets and inventors; pioneers in psychic healing and public lecturers who took to the podium, while in trance, to deliver communications from the spirits and to simultaneously agitate for reforms in society. Drawing from journals, newspapers, manuscripts and the personal papers of spiritualists and their opponents, The Other Side of Salvation is a fascinating read for anyone interested in America's religious history. Book jacket.
Ann Odelia Diss Debar was an adventuress who operated under many aliases during American's Gilded Age. At one time or another, she was pursued by police on at least three continents. Often incarcerated, but never reformed, she made her name a newspaper synonym for fraud carried out under the pretense of Spiritualist and occult powers. Her scandalous and bizarre career of con artistry intersected with those of Victoria Woodhull, the Vanderbilt family, Leland Stanford, Helena Blavatsky, and a host of other rich and powerful people. Her brazen exploits provided newspapers around the world with sensational copy for almost four decades, from 1870 to 1910, and earned for her the title of "the world's worst woman.
During the 1850s, a surprising number of Americans believed that the spirits of the deceased could be contacted through trance mediums and seances. Many of the radical leaders of the anti-slavery movement, women's rights, the temperance movement, prison reform and labor reform were involved in spiritualism. Among the liberal religious denominations, Universalism was the one most affected by this movement. This amazing chapter in American religious history present a vast array of characters -- visionaries; prophets and inventors; pioneers in psychic healing and public lecturers who took to the podium, while in trance, to deliver communications from the spirits and to simultaneously agitate for reforms in society. Drawing from journals, newspapers, manuscripts and the personal papers of spiritualists and their opponents, The Other Side of Salvation is a fascinating read for anyone interested in America's religious history. Book jacket.
When radio broadcasting began in the early 1920s, the radio was a magic box aglow with the future, drawing humanity into a new age. Some thought it would dissolve the distance between time and place, others that human minds would become transparent, one tuned to another. Performers claiming psychic powers turned radio broadcasting into a fabulous money machine. These "mentalists," born from vaudeville, circuses, sideshows, and the Spiritualist and New Thought movements of the mid-late 19th century, used the language of wireless technology to explain their ability to see the past, present, and future. Casting their mystical knowledge as a scientifically honed craft, these mentalists persuaded millions to pay for dubious advice until governmental and public pressures forced them off the air. This book is a history of over 25 performers who practiced their art behind studio microphones during the early years of radio broadcasting, from about 1920 to 1940. Here, laid out for the first time, is the tale of how they made cash rain from the heavens and harnessed the sensation of the radio in search of wealth, health, love, and success.
Ghosts, railroads, Sing Sing, sex machines - these are just a few of the phenomena that appear in this pioneering account of religion and society in 19th-century America.
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