The Spiritualist Prime Minister

As the culmination of ten years of research and writing, Anton Wagner's "The Spiritualist Prime Minister" reveals the extent to which William Lyon Mackenzie King (1874-1950), Canada's longest-serving Prime Minister, was influenced by communication with spirits. For Canadians approaching 80, King was Prime Minister when they were born and the man who led Canada through the Great Depression and World War II. Since 1975, King has been remembered on our fifty dollar banknote.

What has not been widely accepted until now is that King had more than a passing interest in Spiritualism and the occult, and that there is sufficient historical record to permit this two-volume biography. The meticulous research of Toronto-based scholar Anton Wagner has documented King's more than 130 known interactions with mediums, psychics, fortune-tellers, palmists, astrologers, graphologists, phrenologists, and psychic investigators. King's primary interest was communication with his deceased mother and others to whom he had been close during their lifetime, including political leaders.

"The Spiritualist Prime Minister" is the first major revisionist biography of Mackenzie King. Volume 1 discusses King's pursuit of spirit communication within the international context of the proclamation by Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, that Spiritualism was "The New Revelation" to mankind (388 pp.; 50 images). Volume 2 documents King's interactions between 1919 and 1950 with Spiritualists and psychic investigators in Canada, England, and the United States, including his Ottawa sittings with his close friend Joan Patteson (388 pp.; 46 images). The biography makes fascinating reading for everyone interested in political studies, in the realms of Spiritualism and psychology, and in examinations of power.

White Crow Books, in association with the Survival Research Institute of Canada (SRIC), are proud to announce publication of "The Spiritualist Prime Minister" for the 150th anniversary of King's birth on the 17th of December 2024.

"William Lyon Mackenzie King was the longest serving Canadian Primer Minister and one of the country's most effective. In these two richly detailed volumes, Anton Wagner describes King's interest in Spiritualism and his consultation with mediums when making key decisions. Rarely has the inner world of a political leader been so well articulated, and it makes for fascinating reading. Wagner has tracked down the mediums with whom King consulted and his account includes dreams, visions, and seances. But it also includes a skilfully honed psychological overview, one that does not bypass King's proclivity for magical thinking as well as racist and antisemitic comments. "The Spiritualist Prime Minister" sets a bar that few future biographers will be able to match when dealing with the esoteric exploits of a public figure." --Stanley Krippner, co-author, "Personal Mythology: The Psychology of Your Evolving Self"