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America's Civil War took a dreadful toll on human lives, and the
emotional repercussions were exacerbated by tales of battlefield
atrocities, improper burials and by the lack of news that many
received about the fate of their loved ones. Amidst widespread
religious doubt and social skepticism, spiritualism--the belief
that the spirits of the dead existed and could communicate with the
living--filled a psychological void by providing a pathway towards
closure during a time of mourning, and by promising an eternal
reunion in the afterlife regardless of earthly sins. Primary
research, including 55 months of the weekly spiritual newspaper,
The Banner of Light and records of hundreds of soldiers' and family
members' spirit messages, reveals unique insights into battlefield
deaths, the transition to spirit life, and the motivations
prompting ethereal communications. This book focuses extensively on
spiritualism's religious, political, and commercial activities
during the war years, as well as the controversies surrounding the
faith, strengthening the connection between ante- and postbellum
studies of spiritualism.
Wars do not end with peace. When America's Civil War was over it
set the stage for another, more enduring conflict, as a fractured
society confronted the lingering psychological consequences that
followed the four brutal years of deprivation, distrust, and death.
The enemy was intangible, lurking in the minds of the war's
survivors. Like any great conflict, the battles raged back and
forth, as the war weary fought the mental demons. Silenced by
stigma and shame, the suffering of the War's survivors surfaced in
statistics as the rates of depression, suicide, insanity, crime,
and cults climbed. For others, alcohol abuse or a morally suitable
misuse of patent medicines relieved the daily distress. Dispirited
and distrustful survivors spurned traditional religion and medical
practice and sought solace from shady spiritualists and duplicitous
doctors dispensing phony panaceas. Epic battles fought across
America's landscape inspired countless books on the guts and glory
of war but the lingering emotional consequences of conflict are
neither glamorous nor visible, making this book unique in its
comprehensive coverage of an often ignored cost of conflict.
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