From its earliest days, America served as an arena for the revolutions in alternative spirituality that eventually swept the globe. Esoteric philos...
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Jan 13, 2012
Tamara
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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
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May 31, 2011
Loren
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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 to More...
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 to More...
Mar 20, 2010
Raj
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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, More...
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, More...
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Jan 25, 2010
Andrew
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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 & Blavatsky g
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Nov 05, 2009
Allison
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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 w More...
Occult America also discusses well known historical figures such as Mary Todd Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln’s w More...
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May 27, 2010
Rachel
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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
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Mar 03, 2010
Bailey
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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
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Oct 05, 2011
Todd
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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
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Mar 16, 2010
Richard
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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
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Jun 27, 2011
Leo
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_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
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Apr 24, 2011
Hans
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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" More...
Jul 11, 2010
Paul
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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 th More...
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Apr 18, 2011
matt
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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 ab
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Jan 24, 2012
Sienna
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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 a
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May 03, 2010
Ian
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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
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Dec 28, 2011
Angie
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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
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Nov 15, 2009
Miss Michaele
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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 More...
"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 More...
Jan 10, 2010
Christine
rated it:
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 histo More...
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 histo More...
Sep 14, 2009
Ann
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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
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Oct 02, 2009
VanHalen
rated it:
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 t More...
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 t More...
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Oct 22, 2009
George
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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). More...
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). More...
Nov 12, 2010
Genevieve
rated it:
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
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Oct 20, 2009
Rachel
rated it:
"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 arca
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Sep 01, 2010
Linda
rated it:
All in all, this was a pretty enjoyable book. It provides a lot of data and background history, which is expected since it is advertised as a secret history and therefore doesn't expect the reader to be too familiar with the topics, and it is occasionally overwhelming.
I had an advanced copy (won on Goodreads), so my version didn't include an index, which is at the very least a nice perk for those of you who do get one, since later chapters have references to previously discussed p More...
I had an advanced copy (won on Goodreads), so my version didn't include an index, which is at the very least a nice perk for those of you who do get one, since later chapters have references to previously discussed p More...
Dec 18, 2011
Allison
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A beautifully written and deeply researched book that highlights numerous figures you've probably heard little of in American history, such as Frank B. Robinson (the "mail-order prophet") and Jemima Wilkinson (the "Publick Universal Friend"). Plus, many others you know -- like Frederick Douglass and Marcus Garvey -- but who have dimensions that you've never considered. This is history that we never learned in high school or college and the book is all the richer for bringing
Apr 12, 2010
Timothy
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A well-written look at occult movements and personalities in America. Since the author is an occultist himself, he tends to see most of the failings of these group as well-intentioned mistakes; I see them as fraud or deception. Of special interest to me, was his look at the numerous false religions and cults(my opinion)that oozed out of the "Burnt-over District" of upstate New York. I think the author also errs by dismissing those who claim Adolph Hitler was an serious occultist. Obvio
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May 07, 2010
David
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Interesting book that connects all of the various threads of the past century of occultism, Christianity splintering, mass media and library access that formed the modern ideas of self-help / holistic treatments and New Age thinking. It would have been interesting to see how this continued into the new millennium, and whether these ideas can weather the internet era, where the mass access to "hidden" secrets and easy debunking tends to dilute the occult into kitsch.
Oct 15, 2010
Natashabahr
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I thought this book was really interesting. It took me forever to get through it because of all of the things I had to look up, but I definetly learned a good deal. Not to mention I've got (at least) three new books on the subject to get into. I would recommend this book to anyone who thought they got jipped in American History because they definetly didn't teach this stuff in school.
Feb 25, 2010
LorCon
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This wasn't as much fun as I'd hoped it would be. It is a readable scholarly look at many of the more outre religions and spiritual traditions that have flourished in America since Colonial times. Freemasonry, Spiritualism, Theosophy, Mormonism, tarot, Edgar Cayce, Marcus Garvey, Eastern influences, New Age, etc. Even Unitarianism! ;-) Americans have been kooks from the get-go.
Mar 25, 2011
julie
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Holy cow, this book is extremely thorough and beautifully researched and written. I listened to it in audiobook form, which I usually hate for longer, more academic works, but I was seriously sneaking my headphones on at work to catch another chapter whenever I could. Really fascinating stuff, and like I said, incredibly researched (which, as someone who does that for a living, I deeply respect). I'm buying a print version to put in my reference library.
