Review by Booklist Review
In the Victorian era, playing with Ouija boards and Tarot cards was all the rage on both sides of the Atlantic, with even the young queen herself participating in séance-like party games. Death rates were high, especially among children, fostering the need to feel some connection to the dead. Midorikawa (A Secret Sisterhood, 2017) presents the stories of six female spiritualists and the incredible impact that they had on society and politics. The three Fox sisters, Emma Hardinge, Victoria Woodhull, and Georgina Weldon were each able to thwart norms and live relatively independent and financially lucrative lives. They interacted with some of the important men of the day, like Horace Greeley and Cornelius Vanderbilt, and were part of a circle of leading suffragists. After a time, spiritualism fizzled as inexplicably as it arose. The author does an excellent job of characterizing the social milieu and constraints that these women were subject to, though the validity of the spiritualist process is not addressed. This well-researched book offers insight into a unique niche of women's history, and would be a worthy addition to most libraries.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Historian Midorikawa (coauthor, The Secret Sisterhood) delivers an entertaining and informative group biography of six women who led Spiritualist movements in the U.S. and England in the late 19th century. Arguing that the Fox sisters (Leah, Maggie, and Kate), Emma Hardinge Britten, Victoria Woodhull, and Georgina Weldon leveraged their mystical and theatrical talents to access public platforms otherwise disallowed to women of the era, Midorikawa details her subjects' shifting relationships with family members, promoters, and detractors. By channeling the spirits of deceased male authorities including Benjamin Franklin and the ancient Greek statesman Demosthenes, Midorikawa explains, female spiritualists were able to make forthright demands for gender equality, as Britten did in her 1859 speech "The Place and Mission of Woman." Midorikawa also describes how these "strikingly modern" women drew on their connections with powerful men to push beyond their occult celebrity into the realms of politics, finance, and social activism, and highlights how female spiritualists interacted with the abolitionist and women's suffrage movements. Midorikawa doesn't stint on the drama, detailing money troubles, sisterly discord, poor marital choices, and fraud accusations as she builds a persuasive case for the Spiritualist movement's considerable influence on "the journey toward female empowerment." Women's history buffs will be enthralled. Photos. (May)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
How spiritualism and the occult lit a path to fame and influence. Co-author of a study of women's literary friendships, Midorikawa follows up with lively portraits of six mid-19th-century spiritualists who faced down derision to become significant advocates of women's rights. American sisters Kate, Maggie, and Leah Fox were notorious--and, for a time, highly paid--spiritualists who conveyed messages from the dead through mysterious knocks. From humble beginnings in upstate New York, the Foxes inaugurated the modern spiritualist movement, traveling the world demonstrating their powers. They were repeatedly investigated by skeptics, including committees who strip-searched them, which Leah once described as "very insulting and even violent." Emma Hardinge, a British woman who started out as a singer and actor, was drawn into the Orphic Circle, a group of aristocratic men who conducted experiments "through the mirror and crystal," assisted by various "young ladies" who underwent a trance state during the tests. Although initially skeptical, Hardinge discovered her talents as a medium--and public speaker. Touring the U.S., she became a popular orator, supporting Lincoln's candidacy for president, offering a eulogy after his assassination, raising funds for Union soldiers, and lecturing on the rights of women. Ohio-born Victoria Woodhull, who, like Hardinge, offered "the soothing balm" of connection to Civil War dead, found her fame as a spiritualist enhanced by the attentions of shipping magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt. As his protégée, Woodhull amassed considerable wealth and established her own brokerage firm. A passionate champion of female enfranchisement and free love, Woodhull announced her candidacy for president in 1872. Georgina Weldon, a spiritualist whose husband wanted her declared insane, became a prominent spokesperson for reform of Britain's "lunacy laws." Hailed by fellow spiritualists, the women were at times mocked, thwarted, and even imprisoned by those who tried to silence them. Drawing on archival material and contemporary accounts of the women's personal and professional entanglements, Midorikawa briskly recounts their eventful lives, accomplishing the goal inherent in the book's title. A well-researched, fresh contribution to women's history. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
