Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America

Ann Braude

Indiana University Press, Jan 1, 2001 - History - 268 pages

"... Ann Braude still speaks powerfully to unique issues of women’s creativity-spiritual as well as political-in a superb account of the controversial nineteenth-century Spiritualist movement." —Jon Butler

"Radical Spirits is a vitally important book... [that] has... influenced a generation of young scholars." —Marie Griffith

In Radical Spirits, Ann Braude contends that the early women’s rights movement and Spiritualism went hand in hand. Her book makes a convincing argument for the importance of religion in the study of American women’s history.

In this new edition, Braude discusses the impact of the book on the scholarship of the last decade and assesses the place of religion in interpretations of women’s history in general and the women’s rights movement in particular. A review of current scholarship and suggestions for further reading make it even more useful for contemporary teachers and students.

What people are saying

Review: Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America

User Review  - Kristi - Goodreads

I really loved this book, beginning with the very first sentence in the "Acknowledgments." Braude has written a fascinating and balanced blend of social, gender, and religious history. She examines ...

Review: Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America

User Review  - Jennifer - Goodreads

Extremely interesting history of the "spiritual women" of the early to mid 1800s in the US I expected this to be dry, but it is a great subject presented in a compelling manner. I'd been vaguely ...

Contents

• My Souls Thraldom and Its Deliverance: 1
• All Beings: 10
• The Blessedness of Sinless Childhood in the World Beyond: 32
• Thine for Agitation: 56
• The Meaning of Mediumship: 82
• The Body and Soul Destroying Marriage Institution: 117
• Mediums versus Medical Men: 142
• No Organization Can Hold Me: 162
• The Same Hand that Guided Me Here: 192
• ABBREVIATIONS: 203
• REFERENCES: 239
• INDEX: 257

About the author

Ann Braude teaches at the Harvard Divinity School and is co-editor of Roots of Bitterness: Documents in the Social History of American Women.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America
• Author: Ann Braude
• Edition: 2
• Publisher: Indiana University Press, 2001
• ISBN: 0253215021, 9780253215024
• Length: 268 pages
• Subjects: History / United States / 19th Century; Political Science / Civil Rights; Social Science / Women's Studies