Unholy sensations : a story of sex, scandal, and California's first cult scare /
""Unholy Sensations" tells the forgotten but fascinating story of a sex scandal that erupted in the 1890s around a multi-racial spiritualist colony called Fountaingrove in northern California. Out of the scandal came a new kind of public menace-what newspapers called the "cult.&q...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York, NY, United States of America :
Oxford University Press,
[2025]
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | ""Unholy Sensations" tells the forgotten but fascinating story of a sex scandal that erupted in the 1890s around a multi-racial spiritualist colony called Fountaingrove in northern California. Out of the scandal came a new kind of public menace-what newspapers called the "cult." The Fountaingrove sex scandal helped establish for the first time popular ideas of "cults": groups or movements that violated religious, familial, and sexual norms to such an extent that they seemed dangerous to the dominant moral order. Thomas Lake Harris, the leader of Fountaingrove, became the archetype of the villainous "cult leader," supposedly brainwashing and manipulating his followers through his powerful charisma. The Fountaingrove scandal also established California as a breeding ground for cults, a reputation that remains strong today"-- |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (xvi, 263 pages) : illustrations (black and white). |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780197775356 0197775357 0197775349 9780197775349 9780197775332 0197775330 |