Table of Contents

Ghost HuntersPrelude
1. The Night Side
2. A Spirit of Unbelief
3. Lights and Shadows
4. Metaphysics and Metatrousers
5. Infinite Rationality
6. All Ye Who Enter Here
7. The Principles of Psychology
8. The Invention of Ectoplasm
9. The Unearthly Archive
10. A Prophecy of Death
11. A Force Not Generally Recognized
12. A Ghost Story
Acknowledgments
Notes and Sources
Index

About the Author

Pulitzer Prize winner Deborah Blum is a professor of science journalism at the University of Wisconsin. She worked as a newspaper science writer for twenty years, winning the Pulitzer in 1992 for her writing about primate research, which she turned into a book, The Monkey Wars (Oxford, 1994). Her other books include Sex on the Brain (Viking, 1997) and Love at Goon Park (Perseus, 2002). She has written about scientific research for The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Discover, Health, Psychology Today, and Mother Jones. She is a past president of the National Association of Science Writers and now serves on an advisory board to the World Federation of Science Journalists and the National Academy of Sciences.

Reviews

In a compelling tale with resonance for today, Blum evokes a surprising sympathy for her band of tough-minded intellectuals-among them philosophers, psychologists, even two future Nobelists-who, around the turn of the 20th century, pursued the paranormal in an attempt to bridge the gap between faith and science at a time when religion was besieged by the theory of evolution and a new scientific outlook. Foremost in the Society for Psychical Research in America was the brilliant philosopher and psychologist William James, who like the others, risked his reputation in this unorthodox pursuit. Blum unearths the history of their research, their passionate friendships and debates, as well as their private doubts about the meaning of their work. Much of the society's efforts were devoted to exposing charlatans, but even the most dogged of the members, Richard Hodgson, was baffled by Boston's Leonora Piper, a reluctant medium of rare gifts. As Hodgson obsessively studies this medium, the story grows weirder and weirder, but Blum, who was nominated for an L.A. Times Book Award for Love at Goon Park, tells it straight, never overdramatizing the strange events. She achieves deep poignancy at moments that in less gifted hands could have seemed most laughable. The result is a moving portrait of a fascinating group of people and a first-rate slice of cultural history. (Aug. 7) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

In both Britain and the United States from roughly the 1850s to World War I, the general public was treated to a string of sensational presentations by mediums, a few of whom appeared to be genuine. The result was a widespread fascination with reaching the afterlife through such means as s?ances and planchette boards (forerunners of the Ouija board), which set the stage for the classic Victorian confrontation between religion and the emerging power of science. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Blum (The Monkey War) examines this conflict by reviewing the history of the British Society for Psychical Research and its U.S. counterpart, the American Society for Psychical Research, both of which aimed to find scientific proof of the existence of the supernatural. The author thoroughly covers the groups' principal members and their work, including philosopher and American Psychological Association founder William James, brother of novelist Henry James. She keeps the story moving and fleshes out each character. Her clearly written presentation of the history, frauds, and personalities involved in this unique slice of Victorian life is recommended for all history of science collections.-Michael D. Cramer, Schwarz BioSciences, RTP, NC Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Fascinating . . . Blum tells her literally wondrous tale very well. (The New York Times Book Review)

A fascinating reminder that reason and revelation are not opposites. (James Shreve, author of The Genome War)