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Spiritualism's Place: Reformers, Seekers, and Séances in Lily Dale
In Spiritualism's Place, four friends and scholars who produce the acclaimed Dig: A History Podcast, share their curiosity and enthusiasm for uncovering stories from the past as they explore the history of Lily Dale. Located in western New York State, the world's largest center for Spiritualism was founded in 1879. Lily Dale has been a home for Spiritualists attempting to make contact with the dead, as well as a gathering place for reformers, a refuge for seekers looking for alternatives to established paths of knowledge, and a target for skeptics.
This intimate history of Lily Dale reveals the role that this fascinating place has played within the history of Spiritualism, as well as within the development of the women's suffrage and temperance movements, and the world of New Age religion. As an intentional community devoted to Spiritualist beliefs and practices, Lily Dale brings together multiple strands in the social and religious history of New York and the United States over the past 150 feminism, social reform, utopianism, new religious movements, and cultural appropriation.
Podcasters and historians alike, Averill Earls, Sarah Handley-Cousins, Elizabeth Garner Masarik, and Marissa C. Rhodes each identify one site in Lily Dale and one theme that its history illuminates. They use those sites and themes to approach Lily Dale not as debunkers but as inquisitive researchers and storytellers. At the same time, they also reflect on their own relationships contending that it's never quite possible to separate grief, hope, faith, and friendship from understandings of the past. Spiritualism's Place breaks myths, unveils unexpected stories, and finds new ways to contemplate Spiritualism's role in American history.
This intimate history of Lily Dale reveals the role that this fascinating place has played within the history of Spiritualism, as well as within the development of the women's suffrage and temperance movements, and the world of New Age religion. As an intentional community devoted to Spiritualist beliefs and practices, Lily Dale brings together multiple strands in the social and religious history of New York and the United States over the past 150 feminism, social reform, utopianism, new religious movements, and cultural appropriation.
Podcasters and historians alike, Averill Earls, Sarah Handley-Cousins, Elizabeth Garner Masarik, and Marissa C. Rhodes each identify one site in Lily Dale and one theme that its history illuminates. They use those sites and themes to approach Lily Dale not as debunkers but as inquisitive researchers and storytellers. At the same time, they also reflect on their own relationships contending that it's never quite possible to separate grief, hope, faith, and friendship from understandings of the past. Spiritualism's Place breaks myths, unveils unexpected stories, and finds new ways to contemplate Spiritualism's role in American history.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published October 15, 2024
8 people are currently reading
228 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 1, 2025
I didn't realize Spiritualism had a place, but apparently it's in New York! Four authors cover the story of Lily Dale where various aspects of Spiritualism and it's origins in the U.S.
The four authors (Averill Earls, Sarah Handley-Cousins, Elizabeth Garner Masarik, and Marissa C. Rhodes) are part of the podcast, Dig. Each author has their own chapter (they team up on one) and look at different aspects of how Lily Dale and Spiritualism have gone hand in hand. My initial concern was that four different authors would make the book feel very disjointed and it would be clear that four different voices were writing the narrative. That ended up not being the case, but it does cause a different issue.
On the positive side, the authors definitely know their stuff. Each chapter contains numerous stories and history around Lily Dale. The subtitle is delivered on as reformers, schemers, frauds, seekers, and seances are all accounted for. There are a lot of interesting stories to tell and they cover a lot of them.
Unfortunately, I didn't love it as much as I hoped. As I mentioned, the authors actually do a great job sounding like one author in their writings. The problem is that this approach drained the narrative of personality. It felt like I was having factual stories delivered to me in a rather dispassionate way. I don't want my history to be told with clear bias, but I do want to feel the author's excitement to tell the story. I am sure the authors care about the material, but it doesn't translate in the writing.
Also, it is a short book with a lot of stories. It feels a bit rushed and characters don't leave much of an impression because they take up so little page count. A longer book, or one focused on a more specific theme, may have made this a bit more memorable.
(This book was provided as a review copy by the publisher.)
The four authors (Averill Earls, Sarah Handley-Cousins, Elizabeth Garner Masarik, and Marissa C. Rhodes) are part of the podcast, Dig. Each author has their own chapter (they team up on one) and look at different aspects of how Lily Dale and Spiritualism have gone hand in hand. My initial concern was that four different authors would make the book feel very disjointed and it would be clear that four different voices were writing the narrative. That ended up not being the case, but it does cause a different issue.
On the positive side, the authors definitely know their stuff. Each chapter contains numerous stories and history around Lily Dale. The subtitle is delivered on as reformers, schemers, frauds, seekers, and seances are all accounted for. There are a lot of interesting stories to tell and they cover a lot of them.
Unfortunately, I didn't love it as much as I hoped. As I mentioned, the authors actually do a great job sounding like one author in their writings. The problem is that this approach drained the narrative of personality. It felt like I was having factual stories delivered to me in a rather dispassionate way. I don't want my history to be told with clear bias, but I do want to feel the author's excitement to tell the story. I am sure the authors care about the material, but it doesn't translate in the writing.
Also, it is a short book with a lot of stories. It feels a bit rushed and characters don't leave much of an impression because they take up so little page count. A longer book, or one focused on a more specific theme, may have made this a bit more memorable.
(This book was provided as a review copy by the publisher.)
January 12, 2025
It’s very apparent this book was written by a group of passionate historians with much love and respect for the subject. A very enjoyable read!
February 28, 2025
This book had potential, I think. Overall, I was very underwhelmed by it. It does talk about Lily Dale but tends to dive deep into other topics that are related to Lily Dale--like feminism, alcoholism, and fraud. I found some of the chapters to be incredibly long winded and repetitive, I feel like instead of being 13 pages long it could've been shortened to 5. The only chapter I was at least partially invested in was "The Maplewood Hotel" chapter, written by Marissa. At least she has some personality to her writing! A shame that Marissa only has one chapter while Averill (who has the blandest writing style) has several. Ultimately disappointed with this book and glad I got it from the library. It had a lot of potential but ended up being long-winded, dry, and really....not that interesting. I loved going to Lily Dale as a kid and thought it would talk more about magic and medium ship and etc, but it was really just a history book. It hardly talked about the Stump or anything that makes Lily Dale, Lily Dale. I DNF at about 85%.
November 3, 2024
Very interesting, but a little dry. Not what I was expecting, but enjoyable nonetheless.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews