OCCULT AMERICA: Looking Back and Looking Forward - A Presentation by Mitch Horowitz

In celebration of his new audio narration of his classic OCCULT AMERICA, popular voice of esoteric ideas Mitch Horowitz returns to PRS to consider the impact of occultism in America’s past, present, and future. What developments have transpired since Mitch’s book-which originated at PRS-first appeared in 2009 and how can we newly understand the seismic impact of occult philosophy on our lives and search today?
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Mitch Horowitz is a historian of alternative spirituality and one of today’s most literate voices of esoterica, mysticism, and the occult. Mitch illuminates outsider history, explains its relevance to contemporary life, and reveals the longstanding quest to bring empowerment and agency to the human condition. Mitch’s reporting has called attention to the worldwide crisis of violence against accused witches. He is widely credited with returning the term “New Age” to respectable use and is among the few occult writers whose work touches the bases of academic scholarship, national journalism, and subculture cred.
​Mitch is a writer-in-residence at the New York Public Library and the PEN Award-winning author of books including Occult America; One Simple Idea; The Miracle Club; Daydream Believer; Uncertain Places; and the forthcoming Modern Occultism. He has discussed alternative spirituality on CBS Sunday Morning, Dateline NBC, NPR’s All Things Considered, CNN, Vox/Netflix’s Explained, VICE News, Kesha and the Creepies, and seasons I and II of AMC Shudder’s Cursed Films, an official selection of SXSW. Mitch hosted, cowrote, and produced a feature documentary about the occult classic The Kybalion directed by Emmy-nominee Ronni Thomas and shot on location in Egypt. In 2022, the movie premiered as the #3 top documentary on iTunes. Mitch plays a newscaster in the forthcoming Paramount feature thriller My Animal directed by Jacqueline Castel, an official selection of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
​Mitch has written on everything from the occult influences on Ronald Reagan to the chequered career of professional skeptic James Randi for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Time, Salon, Big Think, Politico, Boing Boing, and a wide range of ‘zines and scholarly journals. He is the voice of many audiobooks including Alcoholics Anonymous and Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People (the author of which handpicked him as the voice of Jones). ​Mitch’s books have appeared in French, Arabic, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, Korean, and Portuguese.
​Mitch worked for many years in publishing, including as a vice president at Penguin Random House where he was editor-in-chief of Tarcher/Penguin, an imprint dedicated to metaphysical topics. His book Awakened Mind is one of the first works of New Thought translated and published in Arabic. Mitch received the Walden Award for Interfaith/Intercultural Understanding. The Chinese government has censored his work.
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“Tree of Tears” by Kevin Hartnell is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
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