Stead – The Man

This is a reprint of a classic book of psychic investigations, first published in 1918, with personal reminiscences of remarkable Victorian figure – newspaper editor, author, pacifist, social reformer, and pioneer of investigative journalism. Stead was a fearless advocate of truth and integrity, with an unwavering faith in the unseen. There is some remarkable material in this book, including some automatic letters purporting to originate from Gladstone. Stead went down with the Titanic, but even in such dreadful circumstances he made a point of helping others rather than himself. The tabulation of his life records his remarkable achievements; not surprisingly, there are many post-mortem communications recorded from him, but none in this book – this would have made an interesting appendix, and a contextualising introduction would also have been helpful.