A History of Spiritualism and the Occult in Salem: The Rise of Witch City by Maggi Smith-Dalton
5 of 5 stars


Will Broaddus, Salem News wrote: "In 'A History of Spiritualism and the Occult in Salem,' musician and historian Maggi Smith-Dalton examines the career of this movement in a local context.

Her book …  is in some ways an intellectual history of Salem in the 19th century....a really interesting book...it focuses so much about American and local culture at that point in time... fascinating.

All the information is well marshaled and presented...And who would have guessed spiritualism was an element in Hawthorne and Sophia's relationship…"


(used with permission)

Smith-Dalton, a historian and writer, considers the history of spiritualism and the occult in Salem, Massachusetts. She describes occult aspects earlier in the region's history, such as mesmerism, religious sects, and Mormonism, then Salem just before the Civil War through the end of the nineteenth century. She provides the historical and social context for the city, including its link to witchcraft, and tells of key individuals, such as Emanuel Swedenborg, Franz Anton Mesmer, Andrew Jackson Davis, Charles Wentworth Upham, Charles Henry Foster, Allen Putnam, Joseph Gilbert Waters, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and other psychics, healers, and clairvoyants. (Annotation ©2013 Book News Inc. Portland, OR) http://booknews.com/ref_issues/ref_fe...



View all my reviews