Talking To The Dead

...vividly brings alive one of America's most fascinating historical eras. This book is a fine read and an excellent reference. ----Christine Wicker, author of Lily Dale: The True Story of the Town that Talks to the Dead A fascinating exploration of the mysteries of mortality and faith..... A most readable and instructive story. ----Frederic Morton, author of A Perfect Splendor - Vienna 1888/9 and The Rothschilds Fascinating...an excellent history of spiritualism in America. --Stuart Woods, author of Reckless Abandon and other novels Part history, part biography, part weird tale...a fascinating story of the birth of Spiritualism. ----FATE Magazine, June 2004 Talking to the Dead takes you on a thrilling ride....you are sure to be mesmerized. ----Molly Peacock, editor, The Private I: Privacy in a Public World and author of Cornucopia: New and Selected Poems 1980 - 2001 The reach of this story is extraordinary. A fabulous read. --Richard Dreyfuss Weisberg writes with clarity and intelligence...This book tells us a lot about our own relationship with death and dying. ----Alec Baldwin Whether you are a sucker for the supernatural or a rabid non-believer, this book is compelling.... ----Michael Lutin, Vanity Fair Planetarium Astrologer Barbara Weisberg raises the specter of two winsome adolescent sisters who convinced America they were Talking to the Dead. --Vanity Fair Engrossing and poignant...a fascinating read, both for scholars and the general reading public. --Patricia Cline Cohen, author of The Murder of Helen Jewett: The Life and Death of a Prostitute in Nineteenth-Century New York. Weisberg has given us a story of enduring human emotions. ----Edmund Blair Bolles, author of The Ice Finders: How a Poet, a Professor, and a Politician Discovered the Ice Age [An] engaging study...[a] lively tale of a little-known slice of American history. --Publishers Weekly [A] well-researched...insightful look at the social climate of the 19th century....makes for fascinating reading. --Cleveland Plain Dealer [P]rovides admirable social context for the girls' misadventures as mediums....also conveys a vivid sense of their personalities. --Los Angeles Times A wide-ranging account....Well-grounded social history. --Kirkus Reviews Weisberg captures the essence of that era in this gracefully written scholarly biography. --Library Journal Weisberg goes beyond stereotypes...A revealing look at the history of spiritualism and its place in nineteenth-century culture.--Booklist Weisberg illustrates that this seemingly simple account of fakery and gullibility is in fact mesmerizingly complex . . . . --Washington Post Book World Weisberg...seamlessly tells the Foxes' story within the context of geographic and religious influences as well as national events --Publishers Weekly Why the country...was receptive to this spiritual and moral movement is another fascinating question raised by this provocative book. --Boston Globe