H.P.B. The Extraordinary Life & Influence of Helena Blavatsky Founder of the Modern Theosophical Movement

by Sylvia L. Cranston

One hundred years after her death, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky remains one of the truly extraordinary figures of all time. HPB, as she is often called, stands forth as a seminal talent of her era. A trailblazer and a visionary, she cofounded The Theosophical Society in New York City in 1875, and more than any other person was responsible for the introduction of Eastern religious and spiritual thinking into the Western world. Her prolific writings opened a new realm of ideas and have influenced poets, writers, philosophers, and scientists up to the present day. All of her books, including the highly influential The Secret Doctrine, although they were first published over a century ago, are still in print and in ever-increasing demand. Sylvia Cranston's book, the first large-scale biography ever of HPB, took fourteen years to research and write. It focuses on the teachings HPB transmitted as well as on her fascinating life, and it presents a record of her worldwide travels, especially in the Orient and in the Americas, and the important factors that shaped her life's work. Invaluable source material originally published in Russia has been translated into English especially for this work. Cranston consulted hundreds of HPB's letters, some newly discovered and others largely overlooked by previous biographers, thus providing a more complete and definitive portrait of this Russian noblewoman than has hitherto been available.

Genres: Biography

672 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best and most accurate information about Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Many likes Murphet’s book about HPB and sure it is good, but this is even better.
660 pages. Amazing results of 12 years of reasearch.

[Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great and noble woman, much maligned and misunderstood. This is a sympathetic and through biography.

[Erik Steevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic and extraordinary! This book was a delight to read!

[Cheryl Lafferty Eckl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant scholarship and research. Lots of detail and insights. An important book for anybody interested in the early days of Theosophy and the character of HPB.

[A. · Rating 1 out of 5]

To contrast with the well researched, sourced, annotated Theosophy: History of a Pseudo-Religion by René Guénon...

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very thorough biography. Wow. I could only get halfway through the volume. It has almost everything except when she wiped her butt in a third world country. Now that I understand her background, whew, I will continue my occult research. =)