John E. Fetzer and the Quest for the New Age

Synopsis of John E. Fetzer and the Quest for the New Age

«John E. Fetzer and the Quest for the New Age» is the biography by Brian C. Wilson, published by Wayne State University Press in hardcover (344 pages, in English).

The book reconstructs the spiritual quest of John E. Fetzer, a Michigan magnate born in 1901 who amassed a fortune in radio and became sole owner of the Detroit Tigers in 1961. Despite his business success, Fetzer moved from the Christianity of his youth to exploring spiritualism, theosophy, Freemasonry, ufology and parapsychology, eventually landing in the New Age of the eighties. Wilson documents with archives how his worldview combined dozens of traditions in a process Fetzer called «freedom of the spirit», and how his fortune made possible the creation of the Fetzer Institute, conceived to drive a global spiritual transformation.

Part of the Great Lakes Books series. The work draws on extensive archival materials to map metaphysical religions in the Midwest and the United States during the twentieth century.

Recommended for readers interested in biographies of businessmen, the history of American alternative religions, or the New Age movement.