What do philanthropist Jane Stanford, author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln have in common? They all conducted séances. Spiritualism was popular in the Gilded Age, and Lily Dale, NY is the epicenter of the movement. From the voices that gave you Dig: A History Podcast comes Spiritualism's Place: Reformers, Seekers, and Seances in Lily Dale. One of the authors - Dr. Elizabeth Garner Masarik - joins the show to discuss their new book.

Essential Reading:

Averill Earls, Sarah Handley-Cousins, Marissa Rhodes, and Elizabeth Garner Masarik, Spiritualism’s Place: Reformers, Seekers, and Seances in Lily Dale (2024).

Recommended Reading:

Robert S. Cox, Body and Soul: A Sympathetic History of American Spiritualism (2003).

Molly McGarry, Ghosts of Futures Past: Spiritualism and the Cultural Politics of Nineteenth-Century America (2008).

Bret E. Carroll, Spiritualism in Antebellum America (1997).

Cathy Gutierrez, Plato's Ghost: Spiritualism in the American Renaissance (2009).

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I often say how similar the Gilded Age and Progressive Era is like our contemporary times. With this show, I take it back. Cassie Chadwick was able to swindle the banks in a way that would be impossible today. Listen to Annie Reed discuss her debut book, Imposter Heiress.

Essential Reading:

Annie Reed, Imposter Heiress: Cassie Chadwick, the Greatest Grifter of the Gilded Age (2024).

Further Reading:

David Nasaw, Andrew Carnegie (2007).

Maria Konnikova, The Confidence Game (2017).

Amy Reading, The Mark Inside (2012).

Hilary Spurling, La Grande Therese: The Greatest Scandal of the Century (2000).

Tori Telfer. Confident Women (2021).

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The heyday of the boomtowns of Northern Louisiana is long since passed, but their mark on the geography and environment still lingers. Henry Wiencek joins us to discuss his new book, Oil Cities, and the people who built, occupied, and abandoned these towns.

Essential Reading:

Henry Wiencek, Oil Cities: The Making of North Louisiana’s Boomtowns, 1901-1930 (2024).

Recommended Reading:

Brian Black, Petrolia: The Landscape of America’s First Oil Boom (2000).

Terence Daintith, Finders Keepers? How the Law of Capture Shaped the World Oil Industry (2010).

Daneil Yergin, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power (2009).

Perry W. Howard, Political Tendencies in Louisiana (1971)

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