David Chapin (1) (1966–)

I thoroughly enjoyed Chapin's well-written account of Elisha Kent Kane, Maggie Fox, and the nineteenth century American society in which they lived. These two historical persons were an unlikely pair. She was a marginally-educated, blacksmith's daughter who unexpectedly precipitated a national craze for the supernatural when she claimed the ability to speak to the dead. He was the eldest son of an aristocratic Philadelphian family, highly educated, and apparently addicted to the thrilling life of adventure and exploration. But chance threw these people together in a doomed romance, their common ground the society in which they lived: a world where the impossible might just be possible after all. Messages could fly through telegraph lines -- perhaps they could also travel from heaven to earth? The top of the globe remained an unknown place -- was it not possible that there could be an Open Polar Sea filled with marine life?

Chapin terms this era of American history a "Culture of Curiosity." This is a good term for the pre-Civil War society which found entertainment in the lecture halls, learning about such diverse topics as phrenology, philosophy, and hypnotism. It was a world in which young Maggie Fox could become a celebrity for nothing more than a well-implemented hoax. It was a world in which Elisha Kent Kane could become the world's foremost explorer and scientist -- or a laughing-stock if he were to marry a famous spirit-rapper.… (más)