With over thirty illustrations in color and black and white,
Phantasmagoria takes readers on an intellectually exhilarating tour of
ideas of spirit and soul in the modern world, illuminating key questions
of imagination and cognition. Warner tells the unexpected and often
disturbing story about shifts in thought about consciousness and the
individual person, from the first public waxworks portraits at the end
of the eighteenth century to stories of hauntings, possession, and loss
of self in modern times. She probes the perceived distinctions between
fantasy and deception, and uncovers a host of spirit forms--angels,
ghosts, fairies, revenants, and zombies--that are still actively present
in contemporary culture.