Praise for And Your Daughters Shall Prophesy
An NPR Best Book of 2017
"The book doubles as a catalogue of America’s 'divergent prophetesses' such as Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, the astrologer Linda Goodman, and the silver–tongued evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, who faked her own kidnapping to spend five weeks with her lover. These accounts are brief, vivid portraits of women in the 'spiritual avant–garde' . . . and [Shirk's] wide–ranging curiosity delights." —The New Yorker
"And Your Daughters Shall Prophesy is both concerned with what we know too much of—the age–old stories of patriarchal systems stifling the contributions and achievements of American female mystics, religious leaders, and thinkers—and with what we know too little of. Shirk's book is a tender, nuanced search not just for reliable biography, but for a depth of gaze into what those women did, felt, and thought." —Diagram
"Readers who enjoy spiritual memoir, little–known facts, and hearty doses of girl power will enjoy this volume. Shirk’s memorable prose and unique subject matter make this a valuable read." —Sojourners
"A book with such a wide range of subjects might be written by numerous authors, but Shirk authors this collection solo, occasionally adopting different styles and voices . . . Readers could pick and choose essays, but they would be doing themselves a disservice, as the panoply of writing also serves as a memoir of Shirk’s life and thought." —Booklist
"Shirk writes with sincerity as she calmly details events, observations, and conjectures. In these stirring vignettes, she mixes historical accounts, interpretations, and fictionalized encounters to provide insight into her personal journey tracing the steps of American women who have sought out an alternative spirituality." —Publishers Weekly
"By highlighting women like voodoo priestess Marie Laveau, acclaimed astrologer Linda Goodman, the clairvoyant Fox Sisters, and the revolutionary Sojourner Truth, Shirk affirms the power of women’s voices and visions." —Signature
"This book is a pilgrimage. It takes us across the country, following in the footsteps of women who heard callings, strange knocks on the walls, and the voice of God. These spiritual geniuses shaped America's path, and were often disregarded as kooks or charlatans by both the religious and secular world. Shirk treats these women with compassion and restores their dignity, while also candidly and with good humor exploring her own religious questions. This is a beautiful book written with great wit and a tremendous intelligence." —Jessa Crispin, author of The Dead Ladies Project and Why I Am Not a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto, founder of Bookslut
"And Your Daughters Shall Prophesy is the perfect hybrid of memoir and history. A stunning literary debut that will inspire you to reimagine everything you thought you knew about religion and politics in America. Here, feminism and God, poetic clarity and mental illness, love and spiritual questing, all come together like old friends who’ve missed each other for too long. Adrian Shirk is one of the great millennial thinkers. Read this book and be exhilarated." —Ariel Gore, author of We Were Witches
"Adrian Shirk's ingenious book And Your Daughters Shall Prophesy carries her reader through the wildest ride America has to offer: her religions. Here the Spiritualists' dead, the pageantry of Voudou, the literature and Liturgy of Catholicism meet civil rights, social justice, feminism, ancient blood rituals, and tales of how Hollywood helped birth the first Pentecostal megachurch. Shirk makes all of it magnificently personal and thrilling. Like the best of Patti Smith's Just Kids, Shirk has a bold and irresistible story to tell." —Samantha Hunt, author of The Dark Dark and Mr. Splitfoot
"Adrian Shirk’s portraits of women prophets and mediums are closely observed and lovingly drawn. Her prose is rich, fresh, always surprising; she cracks words and images open at odd angles to reveal their hidden facets. So, too, with her choice of subjects: by juxtaposing Flannery O’Connor and Mary Baker Eddy, Aimee Temple McPherson and Sojourner Truth, Shirk illuminates unexpected affinities and lines of force connecting American women across history. Her light–suffused, dreamlike language is the perfect medium to capture the spiritual lives of these mystics." —Ellen Wayland–Smith, author of Oneida: From Free Love Utopia to the Well–Set Table
"And Your Daughters Shall Prophesy is a powerful, even jubilant, reinterpretation of—and introduction to—female figures from America’s strange spiritual history as well as a tough–minded, open–hearted exploration of family mysteries. Full of righteous fire, and full of grace on the level of the sentence, it’s a passionate act of recovery that will speak to anyone who’s ever been beguiled by the unseen and unsaid." —Carlene Bauer, author of Not That Kind of Girl and Frances and Bernard
06/12/2017
Essayist and columnist Shirk embarks on a quest to discover the diversity of American women’s spirituality across the centuries. A mix of travelogue, memoir, and spiritual journey, this eclectic collection of essays, remembrances, anecdotes, and histories reveals Shirk’s desire to “overthrow the monopoly of the pulpit” in order to highlight the contributions of women philosophers, writers, and spiritual leaders who have inspired her. Traveling across the country, Shirk writes about Mary Baker Eddy’s founding of Christian Science, Flannery O’Connor’s Catholic beliefs, Linda Goodman’s mix of astrology and religious doctrine, Aimee Semple McPherson’s Pentecostal faith healing, Eliza Snow’s writing on the role of women in the Mormon church, and Sojourner Truth’s optimism and belief in the Holy Spirit. Shirk travels to New Orleans to research the life of voodoo queen Marie Laveau, visits the Lily Dale Spiritualism colony to commune with the departed, and attends a Lakota yuwipi healing ceremony. Shirk writes with sincerity as she calmly details events, observations, and conjectures. In these stirring vignettes, she mixes historical accounts, interpretations, and fictionalized encounters to provide insight into her personal journey tracing the steps of American women who have sought out an alternative spirituality. (Aug.)
2017-06-06
Women on the fringes of the spiritual world.In her first book, Shirk (Women's Studies, English, and Creative Writing/Pratt Institute) seeks to examine why American women have "had to find their own ways [to divinity] outside the prescribed patriarchal orders," but the narrative is too autobiographical and scattered to fully deliver on that promise. The author, whose eccentric family has roots in both the early Anabaptist movement and the Christian Science church, weaves her own journey of spiritual discovery throughout the book. Tied only to the edges of faith traditions, her journey leaves her mostly without answers. "If I have learned anything," she notes, "it's that the truth shifts. The modes by which to interrogate it must always change, and are always changing." Each chapter revolves erratically around a central theme. In some cases, those themes fit her thesis well—e.g., explorations of early Pentecostal evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy, and New Orleans voodoo priestess Marie Laveau. In some cases, the tie is more tenuous, as in her chapter on Sojourner Truth, in which Shirk compares Truth to her own grandmother. A chapter on Flannery O'Connor is obscured by a focus on New York City, and other chapters have little apparent bearing on the subject matter. In one chapter, the author spends pages on the subject of smoking, and another focuses on her brother's mental illness. Feminism, family relations, and other similar subjects come into play, but the digressions serve only to pull readers away from the author's main subject, and the occasional profanity sprinkled throughout seems forced. Rather than a book about women who have acted as spiritual leaders, this is a story about the author and her own search for identity. Some nuggets of insight are overwhelmed by a rambling, unavailing narrative.
