In the houses of their dead : the Lincolns, the Booths, and the spirits Cover Image

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In the houses of their dead : the Lincolns, the Booths, and the spirits

Summary: The assassination of Abraham Lincoln did not come without warning: it had been foretold. Alford focuses on the president's fascination with Spiritualism, and demonstrates how it linked him, uncannily, to the man who would kill him. Lincoln was deeply superstitious and drawn to the irrational. After repeated personal tragedies, the Lincolns turned for solace to Spiritualism, that held that the dead were nearby and could be contacted by the living. The Lincolns and the Booths even used the same mediums. Alford follows the two families across the nineteenth century, and leads us to consider how ghost stories helped shape the nation. -- adapted from publisher info

Record details

ISBN: 1631495607 (hardcover)
ISBN: 9781631495601 (hardcover)
Physical Description: xvii, 298 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
print
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: New York, NY : Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W. W. Norton & Company, [2022]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-285) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	If the Fates Allow -- His Imperfect Self -- So Old When He Was Young -- God's Most Precious Truth -- Love's Sacred Circle -- Ghost Kisses -- Why Wake Me? -- Fatal Vision -- Are We So Soon Forgot? -- Death Came as a Friend.