In Search of White Crows: Spiritualism, Parapsychology, and American Culture

by R. Laurence Moore

Investigates nineteenth-century spiritualism and twentieth-century psychical research, illuminating their appeal to the American public and their importance in offering a solution to the problem of how to accommodate religious and scientific concerns

Genres: Paranormal, Spiritualism, Occult, History

330 pages, Hardcover

First published October 27, 1977

About the author

R. Laurence Moore is professor emeritus of history and American studies at Cornell University.

Reviews

[Dan Gorman]

This book is a touchstone in the study of American Spiritualism and parapsychology, but more recent books have updated its findings. (See Catherine Albanese's "A Republic of Mind & Spirit" on the topics of occultism and metaphysics, and Ann Braude's "Radical Spirits" for the definitive treatment of female mediums.) Moore describes Spiritualism as a combination of scientific and religious urges. I was unsure about which aspects of Spiritualism Moore wanted to emphasize, but his purpose becomes clear by the end. Early in the book, Moore stresses the secular elements of the Spiritualist movement, which sought to make the supernatural an open, verifiable fact. Later, Moore provides long discussions of Spiritualism's implications for Christianity and the way people thought about the afterlife. In the conclusion, he notes the paradox of trying to prove religious or paranormal powers in a verifiable way. This tension, looping between the seen and unseen, undergirds the pursuit of psi phenomena. Moore writes in a dry, almost sarcastic tone, but the book is not always gripping despite its sensational subject matter.