{"product_id":"9780544745971","title":"The Apparitionists: A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography, and the Man Who Captured Lincoln's Ghost","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn NPR Best Book of 2017 \"A rare work of historical nonfiction that is both studious and just plain entertaining.\"—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, Top Ten Books of 2017 \"An exceptional story\"—Errol Morris, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e A story of faith and fraud in post–Civil War America, told through the lens of a photographer who claimed he could capture images of the dead\u003c\/b\u003e  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 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 séances 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 circus-like 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 defense—nobody 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":47014919602416,"sku":"9780544745971","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780544745971_p0.jpg?v=1763712469","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780544745971","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}