Publishers Weekly – August 05, 2019

26 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ AUGUST 5, 2019

around which books cluster and reflect the zeitgeist.

Among the most striking current trends in MBS books is the

still-accelerating growth of interest in witchcraft. Peter Turner,

associate publisher at Red Wheel/Weiser, points to a June 10

New York Times column by David Brooks, “The Age of Aquarius,

All over Again,” in which Brooks wrote that, as a spiritual

movement, “witchcraft is surging.” He added, “In 1990, only

8,000 Americans self-identified as Wiccans. Ten years later

there were 134,000, and today, along with other neo-pagans,

there are over 1 million.”

Witchcraft is one of the hot trends in the mind-body-spirit category

BY LYNN GARRETT

he mixed bag of books labeled mind-body-spirit

is filled with an array of categories and subjects—

including self-help titles on topics such as alter-

native health, positive psychology, mindfulness

and meditation, and yoga, as well as occult and

esoteric topics such as crystals, astrology, channeling, neo-

paganism, divination, and auras. As different as these books

may be, they have a goal in common: they offer readers tools for

tackling problems and seeking personal growth. And amid the

plethora of titles, for every season there are specific subjects ©^ t

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