02205cam a22003494a 4500 55886365 MeVbMML 20250627110210.0 040702s2005 flua b 001 0beng 2004015704 0151010137 AJM pcc n-us--- B F793r 2005 Stuart, Nancy Rubin, 1944- author 6304 The reluctant spiritualist : the life of Maggie Fox / Nancy Rubin Stuart 1st edition Orlando, Fla. : Harcourt, c2005 xiii, 393 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm text txt rdacontent unmediated n rdamedia volume nc rdacarrier Includes bibliographical references (p. 363-376) and index Nominated for a New York Historical Society Book Prize in American History * Honorable Mention in General Nonfiction from the American Society of Journalists and Authors Here is the first authoritative biography of Margaret Fox, the world-famous medium and cofounder of the Spiritualism movement that swept America in the mid-1800s. In 1848, fifteen-year-old Maggie and her sister Katy created rapping sounds by manipulating their toe joints, practicing until they convinced their parents that their farmhouse was haunted. What started as a prank soon transformed into a movement: By 1853 more than thirty thousand mediums were at work, with Maggie among the most famous. But when she denounced the faith in 1888-appearing before a packed auditorium in her stocking feet to demonstrate-Spiritualism withered almost as quickly as it had bloomed. Through the memoirs of the Fox sisters, the letters of Maggie's Arctic explorer husband, contemporary newspaper accounts, and other primary sources, Nancy Rubin Stuart creates a vibrant portrait of a Victorian-era woman at the heart of the tumults of her time. Fox, Margaret, 1833-1893 6305 Spiritualists United States Biography 6306 Spiritualism United States History 19th century 6307 Biographies. lcgft 5221 .b61480113 ddc BOOK 27379 27379 ddc 0 0 ABELJ ABELJ B 2021-03-11 25.00 0 B FOX 62135 2021-03-11 2021-03-11 BOOK