[Review of] Spiritualism's Place: Reformers, Seekers, and Séances in Lily Dale, by A. Earls, S. Handley-Cousins, M. C. Rhodes, and E. G. Masarik
Publication Date
5-2026
Document Type
Book Review
Publication Title
Reading Religion (American Academy of Religion)
Abstract
Spiritualism may seem an esoteric curiosity from the past, but it is very much alive in Lily Dale, New York, a small village of quaint Victorian homes in western New York. Lily Dale was established as an intentional community for Spiritualists, and permanent residents of the village are still required to be practicing believers in the religion. Lily Dale is both an exercise in touristic nostalgia and an ongoing hub for a shrinking, but still living, religious tradition. That contradiction has sparked a new volume entitled Spiritualism’s Place: Reformers, Seekers, and Séances in Lily Dale, co-written by Averill Earls, Sarah Handley-Cousins, Marissa C. Rhodes, and Elizabeth Garner Masarik. The book is a delight, replete with information, interpretively strong, and written in a learned but never solemn style.
Spiritualism’s Place is a model of 21st-century scholarship—sharp-eyed and rife with empirical data while being openly subjective; never intellectually naive but sympathetic to belief; and sensitive to structural issues of race and gender, but not to the neglect of individuals. The authors situate their work squarely in debt to previous scholarship on Spiritualism, most notably that of Ann Braude. Spiritualism’s Place is decidedly not an edited collection of essays. Though each chapter but one has a single author, the four collaborators remain in conversation. Differences in style, emphasis, and approach do not disrupt the integrity of the volume. This collaborative spirit is no accident. Earls, Handley-Cousins, Rhodes and Masarik are co-producers of “Dig: A History Podcast”, which runs to well over 200 episodes.
Spiritualism’s Place opens with an introduction to Lily Dale. The tone invites all types of readers, and the main author here—Averill Earles—notes that the volume reflects the “varying degrees of belief, skepticism, interest, and ambivalence toward Spiritualism” of the four scholars, attitudes which they presume their readers will possess too (12). The introduction delineates major themes like the intersection of Spiritualism with women’s rights, temperance, and the Chautauqua movement, as well as Spiritualism’s “cringey” exploitation of Native American spiritual practices.
Department
Humanities
Recommended Citation
Jennifer Rycenga. "[Review of] Spiritualism's Place: Reformers, Seekers, and Séances in Lily Dale, by A. Earls, S. Handley-Cousins, M. C. Rhodes, and E. G. Masarik" Reading Religion (American Academy of Religion) (2026).
