An American Covenant
A Story of Women, Mysticism, and the Making of Modern America
Published on 6. October 2020
Book
Hardback
300 pages
978-1-5420-9127-5 (ISBN)
Description
A history of mystic resistance and liberation and of five women who transcended the expected to transform America.
For centuries, women who emerge as mystic leaders have played vital roles in American culture. For just as long, they've been subjugated and ridiculed. Today, women and others across the nation are once again turning to their mystic powers to #HexThePatriarchy and help fight the forces that seem bent on relegating them to second-class citizenry.
Amid this tumult, Lucile Scott looks to the past and the stories of five women over three centuries to form an ancestral spiritual coven: Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans; Cora L. V. Scott, nineteenth-century Spiritualist superstar; Helena Blavatsky, mother of Theosophy; Zsuzsanna Budapest, feminist witch and founder of Dianic Wicca; and Marianne Williamson, presidential candidate and preacher of the New Age Gospel of Love. Each, in their own ways, defied masculine preconceptions about power.
A scathing queer feminist history and a personal quest for transcendence, An American Covenant opens our eyes to the paths forged by women who inspired the nation in their own times-and who will no longer be forgotten or silenced in ours.
For centuries, women who emerge as mystic leaders have played vital roles in American culture. For just as long, they've been subjugated and ridiculed. Today, women and others across the nation are once again turning to their mystic powers to #HexThePatriarchy and help fight the forces that seem bent on relegating them to second-class citizenry.
Amid this tumult, Lucile Scott looks to the past and the stories of five women over three centuries to form an ancestral spiritual coven: Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans; Cora L. V. Scott, nineteenth-century Spiritualist superstar; Helena Blavatsky, mother of Theosophy; Zsuzsanna Budapest, feminist witch and founder of Dianic Wicca; and Marianne Williamson, presidential candidate and preacher of the New Age Gospel of Love. Each, in their own ways, defied masculine preconceptions about power.
A scathing queer feminist history and a personal quest for transcendence, An American Covenant opens our eyes to the paths forged by women who inspired the nation in their own times-and who will no longer be forgotten or silenced in ours.
Reviews / Votes
An Autostraddle fall book to look out forA Lambda Literary most anticipated LGBTQ book of October
"Journalist Scott delivers an in-depth look at five 'feminist mystics' from American history in her provocative debut...[and] reveals how the female leaders of these movements have risen to prominence and been repressed by the powers that be...In addition to biographical sketches of each woman, Scott provides the historical context for their movements, and details her own search for identity and spiritual solace amid personal turmoil...Scott writes with blunt honesty, a sharp eye for detail, and a strong sense of purpose. The result is an impassioned tribute to the perseverance and radicalism of female spiritual leaders in America." -Publishers Weekly
"In a moment when witches are going mainstream and stepping up to hex corrupt and powerful men, Lucile Scott's An American Covenant, which centers on five witchy women who influenced American spirituality and culture, couldn't be more timely to read." -Bustle
"[An American Covenant]'s narrative is focused, its prose is sharp, and the timing of its release-on the eve of an election that has millions worrying over the nation's soul-is impeccable." -Washington Independent Review of Books
"This book is about another kind of sisterhood: the witchy kind. A reporter on human rights and international health, writer Scott brings her journalist skills to rendering the lives of five 'mystic' women who each shaped American culture in some way. Marie Laveau, Cora L. V. Scott, Helena Blavatsky, Zsuzsanna Budapest, and Marianne Williamson all spoke-and hexed-truth to power. Even though they lived over the span of 300 years and weren't actually in a coven together, Scott argues that these five women all powerfully defied the patriarchy, and makes a compelling case for knowing their fascinating stories." -Shondaland
"Poetic and vulnerable...With An American Covenant, Lucile Scott has unearthed and cohered tales of a particular feminine and queer counterculture across centuries, deftly navigating historical storytelling in which many details have moldered with the years." -Guernica Magazine
"An American Covenant is potent, important, invigorating and even a little spooky. In this delicious blend of memoir and ethnography, Scott has taken us down a rabbit hole that old, crusty, colonial history books should've given us should they only have been so honest. I devoured this book, learned a great deal about little known people who shaped the world fiercely, and even discovered a good bit about myself. This is one hell of a book!" -Mira Ptacin, award-winning author of Poor Your Soul and The In-Betweens: The Spiritualists, Mediums, and Legends of Camp Etna
"As someone who's long tried to resist the 'woo,' An American Covenant was an eye opening and delightful read. It beautifully strikes a balance between modern day feminism and ancient mysticism that gives all of us permission to embrace the unknown to better shape today's world." -Franchesca Ramsey, host of MTV Decoded and author of Well, That Escalated Quickly
"Journalist Lucile Scott writes the way Van Gough painted; with swirling use of vivid, colorful prose lavished onto a canvas of dreamy sequences, An American Covenant culminates into a gorgeous work of art worthy of its own exhibition. Scott escorts us along her time-traveling journey, breathing new life into pathways long since forgotten, while showcasing five spectacular women-all mystics, whose influence on our history and inroads into dismantling the patriarchal power structure have never been fully honored. Until now. An absolutely enchanting and enlightening read." -Victoria Laurie, New York Times bestselling author of Ghoul Interrupted and Ghouls, Ghouls, Ghouls
"[Lucile] is the Anthony Bourdain of mysticism." -Brian Vines, BRIC Media
"Lucile Scott has her finger on an important pulse point, a hidden history that flows like a through line in American history. Women mystics have been a transformative underground from our earliest beginnings...and it continues." -Marianne Williason, author of A Return to Love and A Politics of Love
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Seattle
United States
Publishing group
Amazon Publishing
ISBN-13
978-1-5420-9127-5 (9781542091275)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Lucile Scott is a Brooklyn-based writer and editor. She has reported on national and international health and human rights issues for over a decade. Most recently, she has worked at the United Nations and amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, and has contributed to such publications as VICE and POZ magazines. In addition, she has written and/or directed plays that have been featured in New York City, Edinburgh, and Los Angeles. In 2016 she hit the rails as part of Amtrak's writers' residency program. An American Covenant is her first book. She hails from Kentucky and moved to New York after graduating from Northwestern University.