Tuesday, March 14, 2006, 7 p.m.
Lownes Room
John Hay Library
“The Reluctant Spiritualist: A Life of Maggie Fox”
Nancy Rubin Stuart, MAT ’67
Award-winning author Nancy Rubin Stuart MAT ’67 will give a talk and slide presentation on her latest book, “The Reluctant Spiritualist: A Life of Maggie Fox.” This work depicts the true-life tale of the beautiful Victorian teenager caught in a family web of greed and deception. Maggie Fox later rose to celebrity status as one of the founders of American spiritualism. Her alleged ability to communicate with spirits in America’s first séances of 1848-1850 astounded the press, made her and her sisters the darlings of Broadway, inspired thousands of child imitators, and fascinated the most prominent men and women of her era – among them, Horace Greeley, James Fenimore Cooper, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mary Todd Lincoln, William Lloyd Garrison, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and William James. In 2005 the Washington Post considered Ms. Stuart’s book “fascinating” and the Boston Globe called it “ a richly sympathetic portrait of a fascinating and tragic woman.” For additional information about the book and the author, see: http://www.thereluctantspiritualist.com/
Some related materials from the Brown University Library Special Collections will be exhibited in the Lownes Room. Ms. Rubin Stuart will be available for questions and a book signing at the conclusion of her talk.
For further information contact hay@brown.edu