The Apparitionists
A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography, and the Man Who Captured Lincoln's Ghost
Nonfiction, Art & Architecture, Photography, Pictorials, History, Americas, United States, Civil War Period (1850-1877)
| Author: | Peter Manseau | ISBN: | 9780544745988 |
| Publisher: | HMH Books | Publication: | October 10, 2017 |
| Imprint: | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | Language: | English |
| Author: | Peter Manseau |
| ISBN: | 9780544745988 |
| Publisher: | HMH Books |
| Publication: | October 10, 2017 |
| Imprint: | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |
| Language: | English |
In the early days of photography, in the death-strewn wake of the Civil War, one man seized America’s imagination. A “spirit photographer,” William Mumler, took portrait photographs that featured the ghostly presence of lost loved ones alongside his living subjects. At a time when artists like Mathew Brady were remaking American culture with their cameras, Mumler was a sensation: the affluent and influential came calling, including Mary Todd Lincoln.
It took a circuslike trial of Mumler on fraud charges, starring P. T. Barnum for the prosecution, to expose a fault line of doubt and manipulation. And even then, the judge’s stunning verdict suggested no one would ever solve the mystery of how Mumler did it. This forgotten puzzle offers a vivid snapshot of America at a crossroads in its history, a nation in thrall to new technology while grasping desperately for something to believe in.
In the early days of photography, in the death-strewn wake of the Civil War, one man seized America’s imagination. A “spirit photographer,” William Mumler, took portrait photographs that featured the ghostly presence of lost loved ones alongside his living subjects. At a time when artists like Mathew Brady were remaking American culture with their cameras, Mumler was a sensation: the affluent and influential came calling, including Mary Todd Lincoln.
It took a circuslike trial of Mumler on fraud charges, starring P. T. Barnum for the prosecution, to expose a fault line of doubt and manipulation. And even then, the judge’s stunning verdict suggested no one would ever solve the mystery of how Mumler did it. This forgotten puzzle offers a vivid snapshot of America at a crossroads in its history, a nation in thrall to new technology while grasping desperately for something to believe in.
