Its a review about this product
Reading biographies of 19th Century historical figures I have often been struck by their unquestioning belief in the supernatural. Both Lincoln and Booth believed in prophetic dreams. Several theories have been put forth for this. One is that after war or natural disaster people long to be reunited with loved ones who did not survive. Someone who claimed to be able to communicate with spirits would certainly have a rich potential market in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Several "spiritualist" leaders emerged during this time who achieved fame and wealth and attracted scores of wealthy followers. Were they out-and-out charlatans, or did they truly believe that they were communicating with otherworldly beings? I am inclined to the former opinion, and so, no doubt, is author Peter Washington. His overview of the spiritualist movement is very amusing in addition to being extremely informative. Madame Blavatsky, Gurdjieff, and Krishnamurti were all just names that I had occasionally come across in my reading. I am glad that this book contains short biographical sketches of these people as well as about a half a dozen others, like Annie Besant and Ouspensky. Now I know who these people were and how they were connected. I think the book is valuable although I did get tired of Washington's smirky remarks after a while, amusing though they may be. I was also a little perplexed by the long section dealing with Aldous Huxley, who was an interesting and complex literary figure who experimented with hallucinogenic drugs. It's a fascinating episode, but has only a vague connection with spiritualism in that Huxley knew Krishnamurti in California. Krishnamurti is probably the most interesting character in the book. He was an Indian urchin who caught the eye of Theosophical Society honcho C.W. Leadbeater (a known pederast) and was declared "holy." Krishnamurti and his brother were taken into the compound where they were groomed for sainthood. Krishnamurti grew up believing that he was spiritually gifted. Ultimately he became enlightened and basically declared that everything is up to the individual. If everything was up to the individual then there was no real need for an organization and thus the Theosophical movement withered away.
I enjoyed this book and found it very worthwhile reading. Four stars.
