American Ghost
A Family's Extraordinary History on the Desert Frontier
Hannah Nordhaus
- American
- Ghost
- is
- a
- “gripping
- mystery,
- moving
- family
- confessional,
- and
- chilling
- ghost
- story”
- (New
- York
- Times
- bestselling
- author
- Karen
- Abbott).“Journalist
- Hannah
- Nordhaus
- braids
- personal
- memoir
- with
- historical
- research
- and
- resolute
- ghost
- hunting
- in
- a
- narrative
- that
- investigates
- the
- restless
- spirit
- of
- her
- great-great-grandmother
- Julia
- Schuster
- Staab.”
- —Boston
- GlobeLa
- Posada—“place
- of
- rest”—was
- once
- a
- grand
- Santa
- Fe
- mansion.
- It
- belonged
- to
- Abraham
- and
- Julia
- Staab,
- who
- emigrated
- from
- Germany
- in
- the
- mid-nineteenth
- century.
- After
- they
- died,
- the
- house
- became
- a
- hotel.
- And
- in
- the
- 1970s,
- the
- hotel
- acquired
- a
- resident
- ghost—a
- sad,
- dark-eyed
- woman
- in
- a
- long
- gown.
- Strange
- things
- began
- to
- happen
- there:
- vases
- moved,
- glasses
- flew,
- blankets
- were
- ripped
- from
- beds.
- Julia
- Staab
- died
- in
- 1896—but
- her
- ghost,
- they
- say,
- lives
- on.In
- American
- Ghost,
- Julia’s
- great-great-granddaughter,
- Hannah
- Nordhaus,
- traces
- her
- ancestor’s
- transfiguration
- from
- nineteenth-century
- Jewish
- bride
- to
- modern
- phantom.
- Family
- diaries,
- photographs,
- and
- newspaper
- clippings
- take
- her
- on
- a
- riveting
- journey
- through
- three
- hundred
- years
- of
- German
- history
- and
- the
- American
- immigrant
- experience.
- With
- the
- help
- of
- historians,
- genealogists,
- family
- members,
- and
- ghost
- hunters,
- she
- weaves
- a
- masterful,
- moving
- story
- of
- fin-de-siècle
- Europe
- and
- pioneer
- life,
- villains
- and
- visionaries,
- medicine
- and
- spiritualism,
- imagination
- and
- truth,
- exploring
- how
- lives
- become
- legends,
- and
- what
- those
- legends
- tell
- us
- about
- who
- we
- are.“A
- haunting
- story
- about
- the
- long
- reach
- of
- the
- past.”
- —Maureen
- Corrigan,
- NPR’S
- Fresh
- Air“In
- this
- intriguing
- book,
- [Nordhaus]
- shares
- her
- journey
- to
- discover
- who
- her
- immigrant
- ancestor
- really
- was—and
- what
- strange
- alchemy
- made
- the
- idea
- of
- her
- linger
- long
- after
- she
- was
- gone.” —People
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