The History of Spiritualism

by Arthur Conan Doyle

Overview

Arthur Conan Doyle's very well received story of Modern Spiritualism, acting as a spokesman for the cause. One of Doyle's last literary efforts, this work traces the history of spiritualism through the early 20th century, and includes profiles of such prominent spiritualists as Emmanuel Swedenborg, Edward Irving, D. D. Home, Sir William Crookes, and Eusapia Palladino. Best known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) dedicated himself to the cause of spiritualism in later life. His passion for the paranormal led Doyle to such excesses as the ill-advised endorsement of Elsie Wright's and Frances Griffith's clumsily faked photographs of the "Cottingley fairies" in 1922.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781410102430
Publisher:	Fredonia Books (NL)
Publication date:	05/21/2003
Edition description:	Two volumes in one
Pages:	704
Product dimensions:	5.12(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.71(d)

About the Author

The life of Arthur Conan Doyle illustrates the excitement and diversity of the Victorian age unlike that of any other single figure of the period. At different points in his life he was a surgeon on a whaling ship; a GP; an apprentice eye-surgeon; an unsuccessful parliamentary candidate (twice); a multi-talented sportsman; one of the inventors of cross-country skiing in Switzerland; a formidable public speaker; a campaigner against miscarriages of justice; a military strategist; a writer in a range of forms; and the head of an extraordinary family. In his autobiography, he wrote: 'I have had a life which, for variety and romance, could, I think, hardly be exceeded.' He was not wrong. But Conan Doyle was also a Victorian with a twist, a man of tensions and contradictions. He was fascinated by travel, exploration, and invention, indeed all things modern and technological; yet at the same time he was also very traditional, voicing support for values such as chivalry, duty, constancy, and honour. By the time of his death in July 1930 he was a celebrity, achieving worldwide fame and notoriety for his creation of the rationalist, scientific super-detective Sherlock Holmes; yet at the same time his later decades were taken up with his advocacy of the new religion of Spiritualism, in which he was a devoted believer.

Date of Birth:

May 22, 1859

Date of Death:

July 7, 1930

Place of Birth:

Edinburgh, Scotland

Place of Death:

Crowborough, Sussex, England

Education:

Edinburgh University, B.M., 1881; M.D., 1885

Table of Contents

Preface; 1. The story of Swedenborg; 2. Edward Irving: the Shakers; 3. The prophet of the new revelation; 4. The Hydesville episode; 5. The career of the Fox sisters; 6. First developments in America; 7. The dawn in England; 8. Continued progress in England; 9. The career of D. D. Home; 10. The Davenport brothers; 11. The researches of Sir William Crookes (1870–4); 12. The Eddy brothers and the Holmeses; 13. Henry Slade and Dr. Monck; 14. Collective investigations of spiritualism.