"... Ann Braude still speaks powerfully to unique issues of women s creativity-spiritual as well as political-in a superb account of the controversial nineteenth-century Spiritualist movement." Jon Butler
"Radical Spirits is a vitally important book... [that] has... influenced a generation of young scholars." Marie Griffith
In Radical Spirits, Ann Braude contends that the early women s rights movement and Spiritualism went hand in hand. Her book makes a convincing argument for the importance of religion in the study of American women s history.
In this new edition, Braude discusses the impact of the book on the scholarship of the last decade and assesses the place of religion in interpretations of women s history in general and the women s rights movement in particular. A review of current scholarship and suggestions for further reading make it even more useful for contemporary teachers and students.