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lithimna's review against another edition
1.0
...don't trust any book that quotes The Complete Idiot's Guide to Catholicism and can't even get all of it's facts straight.
disconightwing's review against another edition
3.0
This book would have been a lot more enjoyable if the authors had taken either a skeptical point of view, a believers' point of view, or tried to write their entire book from a neutral perspective, but unfortunately this book is all over the place.
It's the first book I've read that tries to pass a scholarly opinion that the Salem witch hysteria was caused by acutal witchcraft. Which is fine, or even interesting, except that the chapters on seances and mediumship came off as overly skeptical.
The rest of the book was rather dry and wholly unremarkable. It was all right, and I got through it (eventually), but I do feel like there is a lot of room for improvement.
It's the first book I've read that tries to pass a scholarly opinion that the Salem witch hysteria was caused by acutal witchcraft. Which is fine, or even interesting, except that the chapters on seances and mediumship came off as overly skeptical.
The rest of the book was rather dry and wholly unremarkable. It was all right, and I got through it (eventually), but I do feel like there is a lot of room for improvement.
soulkissed2003's review against another edition
1.0
Our family recently took one of those tourist-friendly ghost tours of a local city and had a great time. So when I happened upon this book in the local library, I picked it up to give it a try. However, when I read the two-page forward, it became clear that the author was not just going to share fun, spooky ghost stories. Rather, he managed to inject his own political views into his commentary.
If I wanted a book on politics, I would read one. I just wanted something fun and lighthearted, with a little bit of American history. This is going right back to the library. A disappointment.
If I wanted a book on politics, I would read one. I just wanted something fun and lighthearted, with a little bit of American history. This is going right back to the library. A disappointment.
victoriad702's review against another edition
2.0
I won this on a first-reads giveaway on goodreads.
It's really more of a 2.5 star, but since I can't give half stars, 2 will have to do. This book wasn't really what I was expecting when I entered the first-read giveaway. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but this textbook like read was not it. I found the arguments repetitive and tenuous in many parts.
When the authors were just discussing events or stories of spiritualists or spiritual events it was fine, even interesting. However, when they tried to prove that spiritualism must exist it at times got a little ridiculous. Sure, I'm a skeptic, but I wasn't expecting this book to try to persuade me that such things are real. I think I was expecting more of haunting stories throughout time in the US than the history of spiritualism.
It's really more of a 2.5 star, but since I can't give half stars, 2 will have to do. This book wasn't really what I was expecting when I entered the first-read giveaway. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but this textbook like read was not it. I found the arguments repetitive and tenuous in many parts.
When the authors were just discussing events or stories of spiritualists or spiritual events it was fine, even interesting. However, when they tried to prove that spiritualism must exist it at times got a little ridiculous. Sure, I'm a skeptic, but I wasn't expecting this book to try to persuade me that such things are real. I think I was expecting more of haunting stories throughout time in the US than the history of spiritualism.
j_m_alexander's review against another edition
0.25
A book of loose suppositions presented as a non-fiction American historical exploration of Spiritualism in the USA. This would have been better titled 'The Case for Spiritualism in American History'. I am not sure if I expected high scholarship or something more entertaining and anecdotal, but either would have been better than what was produced: "the skeptics can not prove with 100% certainty that this wasn't a case of the paranormal or psychic abilities, so clearly it must have been, oh and while we're at take our word for it that these paranormal and/or psychic occurrences are responsible for ALL of the most important historical turning points in American history - you're welcome". This obviously took quite a bit of research and reading on the part of the authors, but then it either needed to be presented in a light entertaining fashion or a proper effort needed to be made to supplement the claims with something more than 5-word quotes from other books and conjecture. This book was so chock-full of absolutes on one hand and murkily tenuous connections on the other that it is going to receive the lowest of ratings. Allow me one further unkindness, I found the authors' voice to be whinny and thus annoying. Sorry, I wanted to like this much more than I did, it just grated with virtually every page. This thing was a hot mess.
liriel27's review
I won this book through First Reads. So far, I have not been able to get past the introduction to this book, which is a 61-page primer on the ancient origins of the New Age movement (and which, the authors will pardon me, seems to have little to do with the presence of the supernatural in America, beyond attempting to convince people that the supernatural exists - without which belief, I doubt if they would even care this book existed, much less open it and slog through 61 pages of quasi-historical drivel).
I started reading this roughly concurrently with teaching my classes about logical fallacies, and if the introduction is any indication, the book is going to drive me to madness. It's nothing but appeal to ignorance - "We haven't found the missing link, so why not believe life was brought here by aliens!" "We can't be sure how the Sumerians knew everything they did, so it must be aliens!" "We don't know for sure how the pyramids were made, so let's just say it was with psychic powers!" "While we're at it, the Bible might have been written by aliens! Or maybe God. Or maybe some really bloody-minded prophets with a yen for codes. But probably aliens."
I mean, I understand that the author came to this book with a certain, shall we say, bias (star and producer of UFO Hunters), but still. Don't write 61 PAGES of "No one really knows the truth, so here's a theory that fits into my worldview. If you don't agree, then you are 'obdurate skeptics and debunkers' (23). It's ok if I never really come to a conclusion about anything - it's all a MYSTERY!" *big distracting hand gesture*
Please.
I don't know if I can continue with this. And, just to be clear, I am not a partiularly skeptical or practical-minded person. The introduction feels self-indulgent, unnecessary, and, if you'll forgive the pun, alienating.
*Update - I've read about half of it. I was right. It is driving me crazy. The bits that are actual history are good, but the conclusions drawn are sketchy, at best (Maybe the women in Salem deserved it - some of them really WERE witches! And Lincoln might have been psychic - except he averted any of the disasters he might have predicted except his own death! Mediums who admitted they were faking may not have been faking after all!). Gah.
I started reading this roughly concurrently with teaching my classes about logical fallacies, and if the introduction is any indication, the book is going to drive me to madness. It's nothing but appeal to ignorance - "We haven't found the missing link, so why not believe life was brought here by aliens!" "We can't be sure how the Sumerians knew everything they did, so it must be aliens!" "We don't know for sure how the pyramids were made, so let's just say it was with psychic powers!" "While we're at it, the Bible might have been written by aliens! Or maybe God. Or maybe some really bloody-minded prophets with a yen for codes. But probably aliens."
I mean, I understand that the author came to this book with a certain, shall we say, bias (star and producer of UFO Hunters), but still. Don't write 61 PAGES of "No one really knows the truth, so here's a theory that fits into my worldview. If you don't agree, then you are 'obdurate skeptics and debunkers' (23). It's ok if I never really come to a conclusion about anything - it's all a MYSTERY!" *big distracting hand gesture*
Please.
I don't know if I can continue with this. And, just to be clear, I am not a partiularly skeptical or practical-minded person. The introduction feels self-indulgent, unnecessary, and, if you'll forgive the pun, alienating.
*Update - I've read about half of it. I was right. It is driving me crazy. The bits that are actual history are good, but the conclusions drawn are sketchy, at best (Maybe the women in Salem deserved it - some of them really WERE witches! And Lincoln might have been psychic - except he averted any of the disasters he might have predicted except his own death! Mediums who admitted they were faking may not have been faking after all!). Gah.
tracisbooks's review
3.0
This book would have been a lot more enjoyable if the authors had taken either a skeptical point of view, a believers' point of view, or tried to write their entire book from a neutral perspective, but unfortunately this book is all over the place.
It's the first book I've read that tries to pass a scholarly opinion that the Salem witch hysteria was caused by acutal witchcraft. Which is fine, or even interesting, except that the chapters on seances and mediumship came off as overly skeptical.
The rest of the book was rather dry and wholly unremarkable. It was all right, and I got through it (eventually), but I do feel like there is a lot of room for improvement.
It's the first book I've read that tries to pass a scholarly opinion that the Salem witch hysteria was caused by acutal witchcraft. Which is fine, or even interesting, except that the chapters on seances and mediumship came off as overly skeptical.
The rest of the book was rather dry and wholly unremarkable. It was all right, and I got through it (eventually), but I do feel like there is a lot of room for improvement.
triciaschneider's review
5.0
I loved this book. A ton of interesting information about the history of the paranormal in America.
mrogows's review
1.0
Well that was as misleading as a non-fiction book can get.
I expected historian haunts and a bit of the paranormal spooky atmosphere. What I got was a barrel of monkey conspiracy theories that lead no where.
I like a good conspiracy theory as much as the next guy, but not when I came for Historical Haunts, especially with a title as 'The Haunting of America'.
I made if through the first 5 pages of the first chapter before I realized there were no ghost stories or haunting and skipped right on to the Salem Witch Trials. Lucky for Joel, Salem is a personal fascination of mine, so I stuck around for that chapter. But after Salem, it just devolved into paranormal paranoia. I tried a few pages from other chapters to find more and more of the same.
In the end, I just couldn't finish it. The writing style wasn't inviting and each chapter eventually becomes more and more ridiculous in the stretches the author has to go through to fit the paranormal claim.
I expected historian haunts and a bit of the paranormal spooky atmosphere. What I got was a barrel of monkey conspiracy theories that lead no where.
I like a good conspiracy theory as much as the next guy, but not when I came for Historical Haunts, especially with a title as 'The Haunting of America'.
I made if through the first 5 pages of the first chapter before I realized there were no ghost stories or haunting and skipped right on to the Salem Witch Trials. Lucky for Joel, Salem is a personal fascination of mine, so I stuck around for that chapter. But after Salem, it just devolved into paranormal paranoia. I tried a few pages from other chapters to find more and more of the same.
In the end, I just couldn't finish it. The writing style wasn't inviting and each chapter eventually becomes more and more ridiculous in the stretches the author has to go through to fit the paranormal claim.
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