American Spirits is a look at the Fox family and their experiences with becoming professional spirit mediums. I had previously been familiar with the Fox Sisters and their story, so this book was a nice refresher. Visually it was very pretty and interesting with photographs throughout. Barb Rosenstock wrote a book that I wish I had as a teenager when I was first exploring my interest in the supernatural. It was a balanced approach and read like a novel, which will make it engaging for the young adult reader. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the spiritualism movement or the Fox sisters themselves.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC copy of this book.

"CAN THE DEAD TALK TO THE LIVING? Discover the astonishingly true story of Maggie, Kate, and Leah Fox - the Civil War-era sisters and teen mediums who created the American séance.

A real-life ghost story for young adult readers interested in the supernatural, American history, and women's rights!

Rap. Rap. Rap. The eerie sound was first heard in March of 1848 at the home of the Fox family in Hydesville, New York. The family's two daughters, Kate and Maggie, soon discovered that they could communicate with the spirit that was making these uncanny noises; he told them he had been a traveling peddler who had been murdered. This strange incident, and the ones that followed, generated a media frenzy beyond anything the Fox sisters could have imagined. Kate and Maggie, managed (or perhaps manipulated) by their elder sister Leah, became famous spirit mediums, giving public exhibitions, and advising other celebrities of their day.

But were the Fox sisters legitimate? In the years that followed their rise, the Civil War killed roughly 1 in 4 soldiers, increasing the demand for contacting the dead. However, media campaigns against the sisters gathered steam as well...

This thrilling and mysterious true story from veteran author Barb Rosenstock (Caldecott Honor winner) will spark teens' interest in American history, encourage media literacy, and reveal insights into the Civil War era, fake news, and women's rights."

Um, a family can't have two daughters and then a third elder sister... The family has three daughters. The number is three.

The synopsis was very interesting and this is a case I am vaguely familiar with. Unfortunately I was unable to read beyond page four because the PDF format does not translate to e-readers, either kobo or kindle. I have declined to set this to 'unable to give feedback' as netgalley are unable to provide a format that will work with kobo, which is what I use and so there is no point in reporting this to tech support because the issue is no longer fixable via NG. I downloaded this before NG changed file formats without warning.
If I was able to get an epub version of this, or if it makes it to my local library then I will be delighted to read it and update my review.
I am able to continue to read epubs but not PDFs.

While non-fiction is not my usual choice, I wanted to know more about Spiritualism and its start in the mid-1800s. I had not heard of the Fox sisters before reading this book and it was interesting reading about what happened to them. While I did finish the book, it was honestly a little repetitive, ok a lot repetitive, in describing their travels back and forth between locations. Maybe some of that could have been streamlined. If you are interested in Spiritualism and the beginnings of seances you will enjoy this, but know that it is dry and reads like a history book.

It's always a curious thing when books with similar topics come out around the same time-- did something happen to spark all of these authors' imaginations? Was it timing? Publishers? The fact that this book and Gail Jarrow's book about spiritualism for teens came out around the same time is a testament.

This is concentrated though, on the Fox sisters and their brand that ushered in spiritualism. What I enjoyed specifically is the connections to New York (as a New Yorker) and it's connection to speaking to the dead. There are plenty of people to meet, stories to hear, and historical context to understand that Rosenstock excellently lays out in the chapters with images and pictures to break up the text and bring readers back to a different way of thinking.

I really enjoyed this - this the exact kind of nonfiction book I would have loved as a teenager, and as a historian, I tend to want ALL the details about a subject I am interested in. The book really shone in it's images and readability. I also greatly appreciated the depth of the historical context Rosenstock included, as it really emphasized the impact these women had on the broader American story.

That being said, the first half of the book was essentially a circular story of the Fox sisters being believed and disbelieved and I don't know that every experience and quote included was really necessary and it felt a little repetitive. Once the girls began to be more independent from Leah, it became a lot more exciting and easier to become invested.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this to any teenager I knew who loved the supernatural, history, or both. The average teenager may find this too long - but my kindred American spirits would find this worth the read.

Review would be higher but ebook formatting was terrible and made it extremely difficult to read
the story of the fox sisters and the effect they left on america
starting in march of 1848, they have an supernatural experience leading them to believe they are able to communicate with spirits beyond us
they become prominent in the media by becoming famous mediums doing public exhibitions and celebrity seances
after the civil war, solider deaths are 1/4 people and the sisters are contacted by desperate families
the media starts to question whether they are fake feeding off the hurt people or if its the female stigma of living in a mans world (SHES A WITCH BURN HER)

I really didn't know anything about the Fox sisters expect for a feel things but was glad I was able to read this and learn more about them. Barb Rosenstock has a strong writing style and could see the research element that I was looking for.

I really enjoyed this. Pretty creepy to be honest. Def in itself would be interested in reading more by this author. Amazing 10/10.