Books*Reviews*Etc: THE SPECTER OF THE INDIAN/ Giveaway

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend. (Albert Camus)

THE SPECTER OF THE INDIAN

Race, Gender and Ghosts in American Seances

1848-1890

Kathryn Troy

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Detailed seance accounts... THE SPECTER OF THE INDIAN by Kathryn Troy #PUYB #ASMSG… Click To Tweet

Inside the Book

Title: THE SPECTER OF THE INDIAN: RACE, GENDER, AND GHOSTS IN AMERICAN SEANCES, 1848 – 1898
Author: Kathryn A. Troy
Publisher: SUNY Press
Pages: 200
Genre: Historical Nonfiction

The Specter of the Indian unveils the centrality of Native American spirit guides during the emergent years of American Spiritualism. By pulling together cultural and political history; the studies of religion, race, and gender; and the ghostly, Kathryn Troy offers a new layer of understanding to the prevalence of mystically styled Indians in American visual and popular culture. The connections between Spiritualist print and contemporary Indian policy provide fresh insight into the racial dimensions of social reform among nineteenth-century Spiritualists. Troy draws fascinating parallels between the contested belief of Indians as fading from the world, claims of returned apparitions, and the social impetus to provide American Indians with a means of existence in white America. Rather than vanishing from national sight and memory, Indians and their ghosts are shown to be ever present. This book transports the readers into dimly lit parlor rooms and darkened cabinets and lavishes them with detailed séance accounts in the words of those who witnessed them. Scrutinizing the otherworldly whisperings heard therein highlights the voices of mediums and those they sought to channel, allowing the author to dig deep into Spiritualist belief and practice. The influential presence of Indian ghosts is made clear and undeniable. (from Pump Up Your Book)

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MY THOUGHTS

This book will hook you from page one. SO many moments that may touch your soul and heart. It will may you think, not only about spirits, ghosts but the Indian. Sometimes we think the Indian is a lost race, but is it really? There spirits continue!

This book is about history and the different aspects that make up that history including, religion, race, gender and spirit. Indians have always had a magical or mystical side to them.They were a struggling race.Most were looking for peace, a place to be away from being hunted and hated. It seemed they could never settle down for any length of time before they had to uproot their villages and move on. Most believed in the spirit of the soul. Some believed that the Indian was going to be a thing of the past. They were dwindling in numbers and they were . Others believed that the Indian, physically were fading but their spirits were still alive and presenting themselves as ghosts . Some believed this was the way the Indian was staying alive - through their spirits. The spirits are forever there, so if the actual physical form of the Indian was leaving, their counterparts in the shape of ghosts from the spirits.came to light. This book was fascinating as it took the reader into the recesses that have a mystical feel to them. Sometimes in the dark nooks and crannies that keep the reader turning the pages. You get the feel of the seance, even though you are not there. You can picture people around the table as the spirits enter their world, That world sometimes belong more to the spirits though. The stories of the spirits are told from the ones who were there and felt their presence. The exact details put you there. You can feel the heart skip a beat as the spirits come to sight, only if within your mind. You can picture the expressions on the faces of those at the seance as they hear the spirits.
How did these specters affect the American Spiritualists? They were used in various ways, politically, for power, as mediators for peace and sometimes for trouble, a form of strength. They were a connection between the spiritual and the real world. Spirits don't have to be from the past. They are very much a part of the present and most likely will be a part of the future.

A tremendous amount of research must have gone into this book along with a keen insight into the Spirits. Some believe, some don't. It's up to you the reader.

I received a copy of this book and voluntarily decided to review it.

I would give this book 4 STARS.
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Meet the Author

Kathryn Troy has two Master’s Degrees in History from Stony Brook University. She contributed to the anthology The Spiritualist Movement published by Prager in August 2013, and teaches at Farmingdale State College and Suffolk County Community College. In her spare time she pours all she knows about the ghostly and supernatural into her fiction writing.