Thurschwell examines the intersection of literary culture, the occult and new technology at the fin-de-siècle. She argues that as new technologies, such as the telegraph and the telephone, began suffusing the public imagination from the mid-nineteenth century on, they seemed to support the claims of spiritualist mediums. Making unexpected connections between, for instance, speaking on the telephone and speaking to the dead, she examines how psychical research is reflected in the work of Henry James, George DuMaurier and Oscar Wilde among others.

Rethink your view of the world with The Teachings of Don Juan, the first book in Carlos Castaneda's spiritual journey into the world of sorcery... The Teachings of don Juan is the story of Carlos Castaneda's extraordinary experiences. In 1960 Carlos Castaneda was a graduate student when he met Don Juan, a Yaqui Indian feared and shunned by the ordinary folk of the American Southwest because of his unnatural powers. During the next five years don Juan's arcana knowledge led Castaneda into a world of beauty and terror, ruled by concepts far beyond those of Western civilisation. Using medicinal herbs Castaneda lived through encounters with disembodied spirits, shamans in the form of huge wolves, and death in the shape of silver crows. Finally, after a night of utter terror in which he knew that his life was threatened by forces which he still cannot fully explain, he gave up his struggle to become a 'Man Of Knowledge'. 'It gives a different view of the world and challenges the ideas and beliefs that we have be taught, whilst also providing simple methods to changing the way we interact with the world on a day to day basis.' - 5* Reader Review

Although Stuart Cumberland (1857 1922) was renowned for his mind-reading skills, he was a staunch critic of related spiritualist practices. He claimed that many s ances and other events that he had seen confirmed his suspicions that 'the chief basis of the movement was money-making'. So he decided to launch his own campaign to uncover the truth about the methods of spirit-mediums, and in this work, published in 1918, he explains many mediums' tricks, such as making tables move using special silk thread, not spiritual aid. He lectured about the subject in places ranging from Cambridge University to Lambeth Palace, and attributed his own success to his ability to read muscle movement, rather than any supernatural communication. Providing a fascinating picture of the changing spiritualist movement, this work illustrates the extent of the social and political influence of some spiritualists, but also how credibility about their practices was being challenged.

Sophia Elizabeth De Morgan (1809-1892) was the wife of the mathematician and logician Augustus De Morgan and mother of ceramicist William De Morgan. In Threescore Years and Ten, completed in 1887, edited by her daughter Mary, and published in 1895, De Morgan recounts her formative early years and the influence of her father, the social reformer William Frend. She followed in his footsteps and fought for many causes, including higher education for women and prison reform. She was also an early animal rights activist and campaigned against vivisection. Throughout her life, De Morgan encountered some of the leading writers and thinkers of the time - she was introduced to William Blake when she was a child and many years later found herself the neighbour of Thomas Carlyle. De Morgan's reflections on her life offer an insight into the intellectual world of a Victorian social reformer.