{"product_id":"the-darkened-room-women-power-and-spiritualism-in-late-victorian-england-9780226642055","title":"The Darkened Room: Women, Power, and Spiritualism in Late Victorian England","description":"A highly original study that examines the central role played by women as mediums, healers, and believers during the golden age of spiritualism in the late Victorian era, \u003ci\u003eThe Darkened Room\u003c\/i\u003e is more than a meditation on women mediums-it's an exploration of the era's gender relations. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The hugely popular spiritualist movement, which maintained that women were uniquely qualified to commune with spirits of the dead, offered female mediums a new independence, authority, and potential to undermine conventional class and gender relations in the home and in society. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Using previously unexamined sources and an innovative approach, Alex Owen invokes the Victorian world of darkened séance rooms, theatrical apparitions, and moving episodes of happiness lost and regained. She charts the struggles between spiritualists and the medical and legal establishments over the issue of female mediumship, and provides new insights into the gendered dynamics of Victorian society.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAlex Owen\u003c\/b\u003e is a professor of history and gender studies at Northwestern University. She is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Place of Enchantment\u003c\/i\u003e, also published by the University of Chicago Press.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50318499447058,"sku":"9780226642055","price":38.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_2905ca3a-4199-40d2-8994-e1b66ca84bfc.jpg?v=1727556305","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-darkened-room-women-power-and-spiritualism-in-late-victorian-england-9780226642055","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}