"In The new society for universal harmony, Lenore Malen uses pseudo-documentary photographs, "testimonials," case histories, and arcane imagery to archive her own reinvention of the utopian society established in Paris in 1783 by Franz Anton Mesmer

Included are fiction and essays by Jonathan Ames, Geoffrey O'Brian, Pepe Karmel, Nancy Princenthal, , Irving Sandler, Susan Canning, Barbara Tannenbaum, Jim Long, Mark A. Thompson, and others who assume the roles of scientific corroborators, curious journalists, and people whose lives have been forever changed by the Society. Malen's first person account of her discovery and two-year involvement with the Soceity is often humorous ... "--Front fly leaf