{"product_id":"the-apparitionists-a-tale-of-phantoms-fraud-photography-and-the-man-who-captured-lincoln-s-ghost","title":"The Apparitionists: A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography, and the Man Who Captured Lincoln s Ghost","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn NPR Best Book of 2017 A rare work of historical nonfiction that is both studious and just plain entertaining. Publishers Weekly, Top Ten Books of 2017 An exceptional story Errol Morris, New York Times Book ReviewA story of faith and fraud in postCivil War America, told through the lens of a photographer who claimed he could capture images of the deadIn the early days of photography, in the deathstrewn wake of the Civil War, one man seized Americas imagination. A spirit photographer, William Mumler took portrait photographs that featured the ghostly presence of a lost loved one alongside the living subject. Mumler was a sensation: The affluent and influential came calling, including Mary Todd Lincoln, who arrived at his studio in disguise amidst rumors of sances in the White House.Peter Manseau brilliantly captures a nation wracked with grief and hungry for proof of the existence of ghosts and for contact with their dead husbands and sons. 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 sided with the defensenobody ever solved the mystery of his spirit photography. This forgotten puzzle offers a vivid snapshot of America at a crossroads in its history, a nation in thrall to new technology while clinging desperately to belief.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47335696138485,"sku":"DADAX0544745973","price":24.65,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/5804\/8501\/files\/718EryoLRYL.jpg?v=1763991690","url":"https:\/\/ergodebooks.com\/products\/the-apparitionists-a-tale-of-phantoms-fraud-photography-and-the-man-who-captured-lincoln-s-ghost","provider":"Ergodebooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}