The apparitionists : a tale of phantoms, fraud, photography, and the man who captured Lincoln's ghost
Manseau, Peter2017
Books
"A rare work of historical nonfiction that is both studious and just plain entertaining."-Publishers Weekly, Top Ten Books of 2017 "An exceptional story"-Errol Morris, New York Times Book Review A story of faith and fraud in post-Civil War America, told through the lens of a photographer who claimed he could capture images of the dead In the early days of photography, in the death-strewn wake of the Civil War, one man seized America's imagination. A "spirit photographer," William Mumler took portrait photographs that featured the ghostly presence of a lost loved one alongside the living subject. Mumler was a sensation: The affluent and influential came calling, including Mary Todd Lincoln, who arrived at his studio in disguise amidst rumors of sances in the White House. Peter Manseau brilliantly captures a nation wracked with grief and hungry for proof of the existence of ghosts and for contact with their dead husbands and sons. It took a circus-like trial of Mumler on fraud charges, starring P. T. Barnum for the prosecution, to expose a fault line of doubt and manipulation. And even then, the judge sided with the defense-nobody ever solved the mystery of his spirit photography. This forgotten puzzle offers a vivid snapshot of America at a crossroads in its history, a nation in thrall to new technology while clinging desperately to belief.
Main title:
Author:
Manseau, Peter, author
Imprint:
Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017.
Collation:
pages cm
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:
9780544745971 (hardcover)
Language:
English
Subject:
BRN:
2258746
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