Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation

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Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation

3.27 of 5 stars 3.27 · rating details · 322 ratings · 97 reviews

It touched lives as disparate as those of Frederick Douglass, Franklin Roosevelt, and Mary Todd Lincoln—who once convinced her husband, Abe, to host a séance in the White House. Americans all, they were among the famous figures whose paths intertwined with the mystical and esoteric movement broadly known as the occult. Brought over from the Old World and spread throughout...more It touched lives as disparate as those of Frederick Douglass, Franklin Roosevelt, and Mary Todd Lincoln—who once convinced her husband, Abe, to host a séance in the White House. Americans all, they were among the famous figures whose paths intertwined with the mystical and esoteric movement broadly known as the occult. Brought over from the Old World and spread throughout the New by some of the most obscure but gifted men and women of early U.S. history, this “hidden wisdom” transformed the spiritual life of the still-young nation and, through it, much of the Western world.

Yet the story of the American occult has remained largely untold. Now a leading writer on the subject of alternative spirituality brings it out of the shadows. Here is a rich, fascinating, and colorful history of a religious revolution and an epic of offbeat history.

From the meaning of the symbols on the one-dollar bill to the origins of the Ouija board, Occult America briskly sweeps from the nation’s earliest days to the birth of the New Age era and traces many people and episodes, including:

•The spirit medium who became America’s first female religious leader in 1776
•The supernatural passions that marked the career of Mormon prophet Joseph Smith
•The rural Sunday-school teacher whose clairvoyant visions instigated the dawn of the New Age
•The prominence of mind-power mysticism in the black-nationalist politics of Marcus Garvey
•The Idaho druggist whose mail-order mystical religion ranked as the eighth-largest faith in the world during the Great Depression

Here, too, are America’s homegrown religious movements, from transcendentalism to spiritualism to Christian Science to the positive-thinking philosophy that continues to exert such a powerful pull on the public today. A feast for believers in alternative spirituality, an eye-opener for anyone curious about the unknown byroads of American history, Occult America is an engaging, long-overdue portrait of one nation, under many gods, whose revolutionary influence is still being felt in every corner of the globe.(less)

Hardcover, 291 pages

Published September 8th 2009 by Bantam (first published January 1st 2009)

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Mar 02, 2012 Sesana marked it as dnf-or-not-gonna-happen

I just couldn't bring myself to finish this. The title gives the impression that mysticisim and the occult actually played a big role in American history, and that the author will be revealing fascinating secrets. Nope. Instead, it's just a simple history of the various weird things that people have believed in (for a certain value of weird, of course). It's actually very dry, which is a shame. Probably overresearched and overwritten. Top that off with a complete and total lack of critical reaso...more

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Jan 25, 2010 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

As the book explains, the occult in America was far less dark than that in the Old World, and most of the US occult/mystic movements were good & positive & emphasized self-improvement. It starts with the Shakers and some of the New York/New England mystics, especially Andrew Jackson Davis - "The Poughkeepsie Seer" - who was one of the most famous/influential mystics of the nineteenth century. Equally influential was Madame Blavatsky & the Theosophical Society. Both Davis & Blavat...more

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Mar 21, 2013 Joshua Buhs rated it 1 of 5 stars

Popular history, of the un-incisive variety.
Has no real overarching story to tell, other than: the occult is an important strand in American history, and its effects can be seen in popular culture. Idea about relationship between occult and religion is un-nuanced--religion tries to squash the occcult. As a result, no good sense of what occult is besides what weirdos believe. (Gets his definition from description of I Ching: as above, so below.) Also, based on great-man history. Much of this is j...more

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Nov 11, 2012 Nick rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, mystery, new-england, philosophy

A really cool pop history book. It touches on such a huge variety of movements and individuals that a summary is basically impossible. This is both a strength and a weakness of the book, as it gives you a wide survey, but sometimes gives you less detail than you'd prefer. However, it does give you plenty of material to google and research on your own.

Just some tidbits to give you a taste of what its like

*--"The Secret" and Mormonism have a common ancestry in the burned over district of Northern...more

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Jan 13, 2012 Tamara Mitchell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: occult, history

Having studied esoteric and occult culture for well over half my life, this book doesn't contain anything that I hadn't already read about. However, the author's treatment of his subject matter is a refreshing change from either the condescending manner of skeptical writers or the credulous tone of New Age proselytizers. While the book itself is a slim volume, its pages are full of characters and their exploits, woven together quite skillfully into a concise history of the main esoteric belief s...more

4 likes · like · see review

May 31, 2011 Loren rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: to-be-sold

I couldn't finish this book. I was looking for a book that did as the subtitle promised, explained "how mysticism shaped our nation." Instead, I got a glossy overview that was neither as salacious and fun as it might have been or in-depth and interesting as it should have been. This was a highly disappointing book.

It begins with Christian mystics settling in the New World, which would have been less than optimal for me, but might have been vaguely intriguing if the text told me how their beliefs...more

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Mar 20, 2010 Raj Ayyar rated it 5 of 5 stars

Mitch Horowitz: Occult America --
The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation (Bantam, 2009)
A Review
By
Raj Ayyar
Mitch Horowitz leads us on a fascinating journey through an alternative U.S. history – a landscape peopled with colorful eccentrics, inspired visionaries and self-help savants. Contrary to a certain stereotype about the hardboiled pragmatism and muscular materialism of the American, Horowitzian America offers us a peek into a radically different, occult America, whose thumbpri...more Mitch Horowitz: Occult America --
The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation (Bantam, 2009)
A Review
By
Raj Ayyar
Mitch Horowitz leads us on a fascinating journey through an alternative U.S. history – a landscape peopled with colorful eccentrics, inspired visionaries and self-help savants. Contrary to a certain stereotype about the hardboiled pragmatism and muscular materialism of the American, Horowitzian America offers us a peek into a radically different, occult America, whose thumbprint was felt as far as Asia, through movements like the Theosophical Society.

However, throughout the book, Horowitz emphasizes the uniquely American quality of occult experimentation in the US. American occultism is rooted in do-it-yourself American individualism and equal access. Apparently, in the house of the American occult there are many mansions, ranging from hand-holding séances to good, old-fashioned self-help and positive thinking approaches, from Joseph Smith to Edgar Cayce.

Among other uniquely American features of the different occult movements is the belief “that thoughts, in some greater or lesser measure, determine reality,” (Occult America, p. 257). The New Age slogan ‘you create your own reality’ has deep roots in the history of the American Occult. New Agers may be surprised to learn that the Law of Attraction, popularized by Esther and Jerry Hicks and by the best selling book and DVD ‘The Secret’, has a long history in American Occultism. Horowitz traces LOA back to Andrew Jackson Davis, the Seer of Poughkeepsie in 1855. “The Law of Attraction meant that whatever a person dwelled upon in their thoughts would manifest in events good or bad, joyous or catastrophic in their earthly lives.” (Occult America, p.96).

Horowitz points out that in the context of slavery in the American South, such thinking could seem a ‘naively cruel calculus’. (ibid. p.96.) It is hard to disagree with Horowitz when he argues that the Law of Attraction presupposes an American middle class level of comfort and stability. In fact, one could go further and argue that the Law of Attraction can be easily linked to a do-it-yourself, ‘get rich quick’ capitalist ethic.

On the other hand, Horowitz does not pause to consider how this business of reality creation with thoughts and feelings, can be a profoundly self-empowering calculus, as studies of the placebo effect have shown. Within certain limits, the Law of Attraction can infuse one with the energy, trust and confidence to change one’s circumstances from illness to good health, from poverty to a state of material comfort, from struggling to a life of relative ease.

There are some astonishing counter examples to the bourgeois halo surrounding the Law of Attraction and this business of creating reality with one’s thoughts, feeling and beliefs. Horowitz points out that Wallace Wattles (author of ‘The Science of Getting Rich’), one of the 19th century self-help gurus featured in ‘The Secret’, had a Utopian socialist vision married to the gospel of wealth. Wattles had a great admiration for American socialist Eugene Debs and hoped that the use of mind power to generate wealth would go hand in hand with fighting for the oppressed, and the creation of an equitable social order.

There is another interesting section of Horowitz’s book, dealing with how iconic leaders of 19th Century African – American movements such as Marcus Garvey, were greatly influenced by New Thought.

‘Occult America’ takes the history of the occult and the New Age out of the alleys and byways, and places it squarely within mainstream Americana. Politicians like Lincoln and Henry A Wallace (FDR’s second VP) among many others, were fascinated by the occult.

The last chapter of Occult America zips through a medley of contemporary New Age authors and movements. One wishes that it had the paced, almost leisurely quality of Horowitz’s history of earlier periods of occult history. But then again, maybe the contemporary New Age has such a plethora of ill-assorted motifs, modes and personalities, that it is hard to find thematic threads that might capture its ‘essence’, beyond a sweeping overview.

(less)

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Nov 05, 2009 Allison (Well-Read Reviews) rated it 3 of 5 stars

I found Occult America to be an absolutely engaging historical account of the spiritual leaders and movements that helped pave the way for Mysticism in the world today. Many people were brought to my attention that I had never before heard of, but have played such a pivotal role in the spiritual movements such as Johannes Kelpius, Ann Lee, and Jemima Wilkinson to name just a few.

Occult America also discusses well known historical figures such as Mary Todd Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln’s wife) and her...more I found Occult America to be an absolutely engaging historical account of the spiritual leaders and movements that helped pave the way for Mysticism in the world today. Many people were brought to my attention that I had never before heard of, but have played such a pivotal role in the spiritual movements such as Johannes Kelpius, Ann Lee, and Jemima Wilkinson to name just a few.

Occult America also discusses well known historical figures such as Mary Todd Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln’s wife) and her fascination with the occult and occult practices, often getting her husband involved in White House seances. Lincoln was well-known for her involvement in Occult matters, especially after the assassination of her husband, the President. Another interesting “celebrity” involved in the occult, so I have found through Occult America, is Sylvia Plath who used the Ouija board along with her husband, Ted Hughes. This is to believed to have been the inspiration for her poem, “Ouija”. It is eerily said that the Ouija predicted fame for Plath, which would cost her both her life with her husband, and her own life. It is a little spooky, if you ask me.

Horowitz’s brief history of the Ouija that both thrilled and terrified me. The account taken from an excerpt in the 2001 International Journal of Parapsychology of an 18 year old’s experiences with the Ouija is enough to give you nightmares for a day or two.

Although Occult America is brief in the subjects it does introduce the reader to (and that is my only true complaint), Horowitz did a wonderful job of introducing subject matters not before heavily discussed. However, because of this – I really felt as if this was almost more of an introductory book about the history of the occult rather than any sort of true detailed literature. Because Occult America frequently jumped from subject to subject, it did have the potential to cause headaches in some readers, who really wish to get more involved in one topic at a time before transitioning to the next. Because of Horowitz’ obvious amount of time spent in research, I hope that this is only a sign of more to come from Horowitz, and am hoping he’ll continue to delve deeper into detailed historical accounts in future books so readers can gain a better understanding of each subject matter.

As there were so many peopled discussed I felt that there were many sections in Occult America that could truly be its own standalone book. I feel it is important that Horowitz takes the introductory information presented in Occult America and use that information as a skeleton for his next books, adding a little bit more meat to the bones so that the reader may truly gain an in depth understanding of the history of Mysticism.(less)

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May 27, 2010 Rachel rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ventura-county-library, reviewed, popular-nonfiction

A sweeping and scatter-shot survey of the history of esoteric spirituality in America. Useful as an introductory overview; it helped make sense of some of the connections between occult ideology and more mainstream religious and social movements. Horowitz provides ample illustration of his central thesis -- that occult traditions have had a significant, often largely unseen, influence on the history of the United States, and that American culture in turn has left its distinctive stamp on these t...more

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Mar 03, 2010 Bailey rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 100-books

Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation seems to be a very well researched book, but the writing comes off heavy-handed, like student's research paper. Horowitz's casts such a wide net with his subjects that most are regulated to a cold recitation of their first publication/occult experience, major events of their career (briefly noted), and their death if it is odd enough to mention. The only figures the author seems to enjoy are Madam Blavatsky, Edgar Cayce, and E...more

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Oct 05, 2011 Todd Martin rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

Occult America looks at the history of the occult and mysticism in the US from colonial times to the present. Topics include Free Masonry, the Mormon church, Spiritualism, Mesmerism, mediums, hoodoo and voodoo, Norman Vincent Peale and "The Power of Positive Thinking", Rhonda Byrne and “The Secret” and other subjects that can loosely be grouped under an umbrella that the Amazing James Randy would refer to as “Woo Woo”. This superstitious nonsense has a long history in the US and is, in fact, st...more Occult America looks at the history of the occult and mysticism in the US from colonial times to the present. Topics include Free Masonry, the Mormon church, Spiritualism, Mesmerism, mediums, hoodoo and voodoo, Norman Vincent Peale and "The Power of Positive Thinking", Rhonda Byrne and “The Secret” and other subjects that can loosely be grouped under an umbrella that the Amazing James Randy would refer to as “Woo Woo”. This superstitious nonsense has a long history in the US and is, in fact, still thriving today albeit in a somewhat different form such as new age spiritualism, alternative medicine, television psychics and ghost hunters, and the prosperity gospel promoted by certain mega-churches.

Although written in a dry and uninteresting style, Horowitz does a pretty good job outlining the history of these movements, the principles involved and their beliefs. He also describes how these movements were often tied to other, broader, social issues (such as plurality, equality, and universal suffrage). Unfortunately, Horowitz falls flat in several key respects:
1. While attempting to remain an impartial historian, he fails to insert rationality into the subject. In reality … there are no such things as ghosts or ectoplasm, it is not possible to talk with the dead, or predict the future, and wishing you had a million dollars won’t make a million dollars materialize appear on your bedstead. In fact, these charlatans, frauds and deluded true believers who purvey such silliness fleece people of their money, bring false hopes and are damaging to society in numerous ways.
2. Horowitz could have used the examples he was writing about as a teaching moment to educate his readers. For example, his discussion of the Ouija Board would have made a perfect launching point to educate people about the ideomotor response. Time and again, these opportunities are lost. In fact, pertaining to the Ouija Horowitz resorts to a rather lame “one the one hand” some people think it’s a harmless toy, “while on the other hand” some think the board can bring evil spirits into being. Journalists perform a great disservice when they fail to differentiate truth supported by a scientific evidence from pure speculation and/or opinion in the hopes that they are somehow achieving “balance”.
3. Horowitz seems to find a real distinction between the occult and organized religion and spends the entirety of the book discussing the former and dedicates little to the latter (and when he does so, he steers clear of mainstream orthodoxies). How he justifies this distinction is hard to imagine. Praying is a form of incantation (spell) in which the user attempts to modify physical reality. Religions expound miraculous healings, raising of the dead, virgin births, transubstantiation, a spirit realm and other supernatural phenomenon that would be right at home in a séance. All that’s missing is ectoplasm. (less)

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Mar 16, 2010 Richard Gazala rated it 3 of 5 stars

For purposes of his workmanlike study of the impact of so-called alternative spiritualism on American society over the past two hundred odd years, author Mitch Horowitz defines American occultism as an enterprise embracing a multitude of "mystical philosophies and mythical lore, particularly the belief in an 'unseen world' whose forces act upon us and through us." In Horowitz' view, American (as opposed to European) occultism largely has been a crusade for personal self-improvement and beneficen...more

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Jun 27, 2011 Leo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2011

_Occult America_ is not without its problems. Principally Horowitz tried to tell the history of the occult in the U.S. as a chronological narrative but since this is really a history of ideas that doesn't quite work. As such, Horowitz is sometimes forced to jump around confusingly introducing names or ideas that haven't been explored yet. Even worse, names are brought up in the context of other people or events and then promptly dropped, never to be revisited. At other times, short chapters or p...more

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Apr 24, 2011 Hans rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

Like I mentioned before this is a very superficial introduction to the not-well-known history of the occult in America. It does a decent job of illustrating that Americans do seem to have a bit of a mystical vein. Today is most widely manifest by the popularization of its once "mysterious teachings" in things like "The Secret", the pentecostal and evangelical mega-church movements, or even motivational speakers for that matter. The whole "Positive-Thinking" the "Imagery" movements all of that st...more

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Jul 11, 2010 Paul rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: library

This is a fascinating book that describes the history of the spiritualist movements in America. Too many details to recount here, but here's a few choice tidbits that I enjoyed hearing about:

1) Spiritualism was associated with the womens' suffrage movement in the early 20th century. Most of the mediums were women. Apparently, the same kind of crazy idea that suggested women should vote were then able to conceive of a spirit world.

2) The eye over the pyramid on the one dollar bill was proposed by...more

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Apr 18, 2011 matt rated it 4 of 5 stars

This seemed to me a pretty good introduction to several major strands of American occultism, introducing major figures and ideas in a lively and anecdotal style. The occult turns out to be a fascinating lens through which to view American (and world) history, as one can see trace connections between such familiar modern phenomena as "The Secret" and "The Power of Positive Thinking" with yesteryear's seances and Masonic cults. Conspiracy theorists may be disappointed by the absence of sinister pu...more

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Aug 09, 2012 George Ilsley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, history

An interesting overview of the topic, which focuses on the US connections and trail of influences. Twice however, the author mentions books which have been recently reprinted (one he describes very favourably) and footnotes that he was the publisher. On one hand it indicates his involvement in the topic, but on the other hand there was an odour of self-promotion. (Ironically, if he had not mentioned he was the publisher, I would have never known; so it is his honesty and transparency which serve...more

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Jan 24, 2012 Sienna rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, kindle

This began promisingly but soon fell flat, a grab bag of facts and stories collected from other secondary sources and dwelt upon only long enough to pique the reader's interest. (Do you get the feeling that scholarly history books are ruining their rumpled, anemic, popular cousins for me?) The chapter on Edgar Cayce, who has never previously caught my attention, proved to be the highlight. This is very thin on Freemasonry — though, to be fair, there's plenty of superior research and writing avai...more

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Apr 29, 2012 Bri Saussy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: magical-miscellany, new-thought, prosperity, spirituality, general-occult-occult-history

Other reviewers have noted that the tone of the book leaves something to be desired. I read through Danielle Laporte's Fire Starter Session in 2 days--this book took me a month to finish! With that said, I think that its very important reading for anyone involved in alternative religious/spirituality/healing paths. And its also a fascinating glimpse into arcane Americana that really challenges the notion-apparently held my New Agers and conservative Christians alike, that America is a Christian...more Other reviewers have noted that the tone of the book leaves something to be desired. I read through Danielle Laporte's Fire Starter Session in 2 days--this book took me a month to finish! With that said, I think that its very important reading for anyone involved in alternative religious/spirituality/healing paths. And its also a fascinating glimpse into arcane Americana that really challenges the notion-apparently held my New Agers and conservative Christians alike, that America is a Christian nation. Maybe that's true-but a conservative, evangelical Christian nation? Nope, not so much. As it turns out many of the early movements of Spiritualism, Psychic mediumship, clairvoyance, and hypnotism do come out of or blend with Christian ideals-but they also tended to beget thought that was open-minded, liberal, and tolerant of differences. I think that one of the most useful aspects of this book is the way that it addresses the apparent schism between alternative practices and Christianity. Nowadays to look at some popular neo-pagan blogs you would think that Christians are by virtue of being Christian public enemy number one-the fact is that these groups have often had fairly amicable interchanges with each other until the advent of the 60's. I do feel like the author tends to focus quite heavily on the strain of spiritualism occult practices originating in the Burned Over district of New York state and as a result does not pay heed to many of the folkloric practices brought by American immigrants, found in Native American traditions, or emerging out of rural and then urban African American experience. He touches on traditions like Hoodoo without devoting much time or attention to them which is surprising given the fact that there is so much primary source material to work with. He completely glosses over what many would call the various "green paths" in America wherein knowledge of herbs, entheogens, and wildcrafting are blended with unique spiritual principles and healing modalities. All of this is to say that the book has a definite trajectory and direction that seems somewhat narrow-Horowitz only devotes a paragraph for instance to Gerald Gardner whose influence on Wicca and Neo-Paganism has been huge-but it still deserves attention from anyone considering themselves spiritually alternative.(less)

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May 03, 2010 Ian rated it 4 of 5 stars

A highly readable and very interesting, if somewhat scattershot, examination of the esoteric tradition in America, from the Shakers, Quakers, Masons, and the like that played a part in the founding of this country, to the increasingly nutty offshoots that are with us even today as the foundations of the Self-Help movement, Horowitz makes a lively and occasionally compelling case for the idea that America is not so much a Christian nation as so many would claim, but and "occult" one, at least if...more

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Dec 28, 2011 Angie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I found this book at the library over the summer after becoming interested in Occultism and Secret Societies. I thought Horowitz did a great job at explaining the history of many different forms of Paganism, rituals, and Egyptian religious practices, but the book tended to go off on tangents and short biographies about people I felt weren't very important to shaping mysticism in America. Prior to reading, I never would consider Mormonism an Occult religion but it was interesting to learn about t...more

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Nov 15, 2009 Miss Michaele Hoodoo Foundry rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: hoodoo-magic, history-cultures

I'm not even halfway through, and finding out that many of the great New Thought pioneers were (gasp!) Socialists, or otherwise allied or sympathetic with the DamnLiberals of their day. The author of The Science of Getting Rich wrote:

"You do not have to take anything away from anyone. ... You do not need to let anyone work for you for less
than he earns. ...

"Individuals of that type who become very rich do so sometimes purely by their extraordinary ability on the plane of competition, and sometim...more

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Jan 10, 2010 Christine rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book was very well researched. I would say it was between a two and a three. The parts about the presidents and famous people were interesting but were honestly few and far between.

Horowitz seems to tell us about every person in the US who was ever into the occult. They really didn't shape our nation all that much. So I was pretty bored after a while because they all started sounding the same.

If he would have stuck with basics like famous people and the history of the ouija board, this wo...more

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Sep 14, 2009 Ann rated it 1 of 5 stars

I was excited to have won this book in a Goodreads giveaway.This was the first time that I've participated. I thought it looked very interesting.So when I recieved it I dove in with gusto.The first part was indeed interesting but after about the first 40 pages or so I just could not get any further.I skimmed the rest of the book(which I feel really bad about).It obviously took a tremendous amount of research to write this book,and I really loath giving it such a low rating,but I just couldn't ge...more

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May 10, 2013 Eddy Allen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: arts-and-historical

It touched lives as disparate as those of Frederick Douglass, Franklin Roosevelt, and Mary Todd Lincoln—who once convinced her husband, Abe, to host a séance in the White House. Americans all, they were among the famous figures whose paths intertwined with the mystical and esoteric movement broadly known as the occult. Brought over from the Old World and spread throughout the New by some of the most obscure but gifted men and women of early U.S. history, this “hidden wisdom” transformed the spir...more It touched lives as disparate as those of Frederick Douglass, Franklin Roosevelt, and Mary Todd Lincoln—who once convinced her husband, Abe, to host a séance in the White House. Americans all, they were among the famous figures whose paths intertwined with the mystical and esoteric movement broadly known as the occult. Brought over from the Old World and spread throughout the New by some of the most obscure but gifted men and women of early U.S. history, this “hidden wisdom” transformed the spiritual life of the still-young nation and, through it, much of the Western world.

Yet the story of the American occult has remained largely untold. Now a leading writer on the subject of alternative spirituality brings it out of the shadows. Here is a rich, fascinating, and colorful history of a religious revolution and an epic of offbeat history.

From the meaning of the symbols on the one-dollar bill to the origins of the Ouija board, Occult America briskly sweeps from the nation’s earliest days to the birth of the New Age era and traces many people and episodes, including:

•The spirit medium who became America’s first female religious leader in 1776
•The supernatural passions that marked the career of Mormon prophet Joseph Smith
•The rural Sunday-school teacher whose clairvoyant visions instigated the dawn of the New Age
•The prominence of mind-power mysticism in the black-nationalist politics of Marcus Garvey
•The Idaho druggist whose mail-order mystical religion ranked as the eighth-largest faith in the world during the Great Depression

Here, too, are America’s homegrown religious movements, from transcendentalism to spiritualism to Christian Science to the positive-thinking philosophy that continues to exert such a powerful pull on the public today. A feast for believers in alternative spirituality, an eye-opener for anyone curious about the unknown byroads of American history, Occult America is an engaging, long-overdue portrait of one nation, under many gods, whose revolutionary influence is still being felt in every corner of the globe.(less)

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Nov 11, 2012 Alex rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-history, ebooks-local

This was quite interesting. It is what the title says -- a look at occult movements thoughout America's history. It's curious how most of European occultism was focused on secrecy, whereas the bulk of American mysticism has been about getting the word to John Q. Public so he too can be enlightened. Kind of neat.

There are lots of interesting little tidbits in this. For example, I knew a little about the Theosophical Society of the mid-1800s, but I didn't know that its founders helped save native...more

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Oct 02, 2009 VanHalen rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Horror Authors, game masters, those interested in the occult

Recommended to VanHalen by: no one.

Shelves: free-book-giveaway-reviews

I suspect that the extreme period of time which it took me to finish this book has less to do with the subject matter than with me.

I believe that when I am reading a book for review from the Giveaway lists, that I am indeed agreeing to provide an in-depth, honest review of the material.
I also suspect that reading non-fiction books cause me to slow down my normal reading pace in order to attempt to learn the material presented.

However, this book took me much longer to read than I would have expec...more

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Oct 22, 2009 George rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

A PHANTASMAGORICAL GOODREAD.

Peopled with a cast of charismatic characters, Mitch Horowitz’s, ‘Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation’ is to spiritualism in America what Will Durant’s book, ‘The Story of Philosophy’ was to that discipline. Mr. Horowitz’s book is an enlightening, entertaining and comprehensive introduction into the weird, the wacky and, unbelievably, (if one is so inclined) the eminently believable (and, in fact, quite widely believed).

From Shaking Q...more

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Aug 12, 2010 Genevieve rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

I got this book as an advance reader's copy through Goodreads First Reads giveaways, and I probably would have given it a higher rating if I wasn't reading the ARC. The book did contain a lot of interesting information about phenomena in this country that I knew very little about, but when I looked in the back for the index and/or bibliography there was nothing there, because this information isn't included in an ARC. For me, part of reading non-fiction is looking at where the author got his/her...more

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Oct 20, 2009 Rachel rated it 2 of 5 stars

"The secret history of how mysticism shaped our nation," the title says. But it doesn't seem that there's really all that much of a secret to this history -- it's simply not well known. And even more disappointing, the history doesn't reveal much about how the nation was shaped. In fact, as Horowitz admits at the end, it's really more a matter of how the history of mysticism was shaped by our nation: "The encounter between America and occultism resulted in a vast reworking of arcane practices an...more "The secret history of how mysticism shaped our nation," the title says. But it doesn't seem that there's really all that much of a secret to this history -- it's simply not well known. And even more disappointing, the history doesn't reveal much about how the nation was shaped. In fact, as Horowitz admits at the end, it's really more a matter of how the history of mysticism was shaped by our nation: "The encounter between America and occultism resulted in a vast reworking of arcane practices and beliefs from the Old World and the creation of a new spiritual culture. This new culture extolled religious egalitarianism and responded, perhaps more than any other movement in history, to the inner needs and search of the individual" (p. 258).

This book could have been a fascinating study in the intricacies of American occult movements. The prose was easily accessible, and the book itself is well researched and filled with a wealth of information. But there seems to be little direct connection between many of the points raised. Each chapter seems to focus on its on particular piece of occult history, with a unique cast of characters and no clearly delineated development between or among movements. There are exceptions, to be sure, and Horowitz draws a few links between bits of history, but the connections are mostly rather shaky and don't provide a clear sense of purpose. The goal of each of the chapters thus remains a bit muddled, and the role of each of the figures in shaping American history is anything but clear.

I take issue with Horowitz's use of the term "occult," as well. A lot of what Horowitz represents as "occult" seems to me no more than parlor games, and not even mystical or magic ones at that. Certainly Ouija gets a mention, but most of the other historical references are far more obscure and less mystical. And while the title would seem to suggest that these various curiosities shaped American history, they really seem to belong to much more of a fringe audience for most of their existence. Not until the 1960s does the nation really seem to see a significant, culture-altering occult movement. There are smaller influences here and there along the way, but I'm not convinced that they really have the sort of hold on mainstream American lifestyles that Horowitz seems to want to believe they do.

It's certainly an interesting read, but I don't come away from it feeling that I've gained any knowledge that I can really put toward a particular understanding. The book seems more a collection of trivia and random factoids than a well structured, convincing treatise. It's taken me more than two months to get through it, simply because I never really felt that the book was "going" anywhere. It's certainly not the sort of book the title and cover blurb make it out to be.(less)

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About Mitch Horowitz

MITCH HOROWITZ is the editor-in-chief of Tarcher/Penguin and the author OCCULT AMERICA: THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOW MYSTICISM SHAPED OUR NATION (Bantam, Sept '09), which has been called "a fascinating book" by Ken Burns and "extraordinary" by Deepak Chopra. Visit him online at www.MitchHorowitz.com
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