Jess Stearn

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| name = Jess Stearn

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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1914|04|26}}

| birth_place = Syracuse, New York, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2002|03|27|1914|04|26}}

| death_place = Malibu, California, U.S.

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| education = Syracuse University

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| occupation = Author, journalist

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Jess Stearn (April 26, 1914 – March 27, 2002) was an American journalist and author of more than thirty books, nine of which were bestsellers.

Early life

Stearn was born in Syracuse, New York, to David Stearn, a rabbi. He graduated from Syracuse University.

Career

Stearn became a journalist for the New York Daily News and later an associate editor for Newsweek.{{cite news|title=Jess Stearn, 87; Wrote Best Sellers on the Occult|date=April 2, 2002|work=New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/02/arts/jess-stearn-87-wrote-best-sellers-on-the-occult.html}} He credited his journalistic training with helping him become a successful author.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90446823/interview-with-jess-stearn/|first=Joy|last=Ufford|title=Psychic encounter changed writer's path|date=September 12, 1990|work=The Jackson Hole Guide (Jackson, Wyoming)|access-date=December 12, 2021|page=3 Valley|via=Newspapers.com}}

Stearn specialized in books of sensationalist speculative non-fiction. His early work focused on outsiders and marginalized individuals such as prostitutes, drug addicts, and gay men (The Sixth Man).{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90445963/thorpe-menn-about-one-man-in-six/|first=Thorpe|last=Menn|title=Books of the Day: About One Man in Six, Perhaps|date=March 17, 1961|work=The Kansas City Star|access-date=December 12, 2021|page=12D|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90445799/books-in-brief-the-sixth-man-the/|title=Books in Brief: The Sixth Man|date=May 28, 1961|work=The Honolulu Advertiser|access-date=December 12, 2021|page=10 TV Weekly|via=Newspapers.com}} His later work focused on spirituality, the occult, and psychic phenomena. His most popular works were two biographies on the American psychic Edgar Cayce;{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90446253/daily-independent-journal/|first=Don|last=Keown|title=A Non-Skeptical Look at Man Labeled 'Our Greatest Mystic'|date=January 21, 1967|work=Daily Independent Journal (San Rafael, California)|access-date=December 12, 2021|page=M15|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90446488/bay-area-best-sellers-san-francisco/|title=Bay Area Best Sellers|date=March 5, 1967|work=San Francisco Examiner|access-date=December 12, 2021|page=39 This World|via=Newspapers.com}} Stearn was a conference speaker for the Association for Research and Enlightenment and a proponent of Cayce's theories.{{cite web|title=Jess Stearn|author=Sutphen, Dick|url=http://www.dicksutphen.com/}}

Stearn might have been one of the forerunners of bringing Eastern thought into the Western world through his best-selling 1965 book, Yoga, Youth and Reincarnation.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90444194/yoga-youth-and-reincarnation/|title=Yoga, Youth and Reincarnation advertisement|date=October 17, 1965|work=Chicago Tribune|access-date=December 12, 2021|page=9 Books Today|via=Newspapers.com}}

Personal life

Stearn married twice and had two children, Martha and Fred. He had a longtime close friendship with actress and radio/television personality Arlene Francis. That may have had a connection to the first mention of his name in a nationally syndicated newspaper column. A reference to his latest book appeared in the Voice of Broadway column written by Francis' television colleague Dorothy Kilgallen. Either Kilgallen or her editor at the New York Journal American placed a plug for Yoga, Youth and Reincarnation in that paper's September 15, 1965, edition immediately after an item about an upcoming Johnnie Ray concert in Las Vegas.Kilgallen, Dorothy. "Joan Baez in Serious Trouble Over Tax Protest." New York Journal American September 15, 1965, pg. 25 Ten years later, Francis discussed one of her recurring dreams with Stearn for a book he was writing that included a section on dreams.{{cite book|author=Stearn, Jess|title=A Matter of Immortality: Dramatic Evidence of Survival|date=1976|publisher=Atheneum Publishers|isbn=978-0-689-10721-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/matterofimmortal0000stea/page/299 299–300]|url=https://archive.org/details/matterofimmortal0000stea/page/299}}{{cite book|author=Francis, Arlene|title=Arlene Francis: A Memoir|date=1978|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-0-671-22808-8|pages=198–199}} Stearn and Francis shared interests in yoga and weightlifting.{{cite book|author=Francis, Arlene|title=Arlene Francis: A Memoir|date=1978|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-0-671-22808-8|pages=170–174}}

Death

Stearn died of congestive heart failure on March 27, 2002, in his Malibu, California, home. He chose not to have a funeral because of his belief in reincarnation.{{cite web|title=The Astrologers' Memorial Web Page|publisher=Solstice Point|url=http://www.solsticepoint.com/astrologersmemorial/whowas2.html|access-date=June 28, 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050427062310/http://www.solsticepoint.com/astrologersmemorial/whowas2.html|archive-date=April 27, 2005}}{{cite news|title=Obituary|last=Oliver|first=Myrna|work=Los Angeles Times|date=April 1, 2002|page=9}}

Bibliography

{{cite book|year=1954|title=Sisters of the Night: The Startling Story of Prostitution in New York Today|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1959|title=The Wasted Years: Drug & Delinquent Stories|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1961|title=The Sixth Man: A Startling Investigation of the Spread of Homosexuality in America|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1963|title=The Door to the Future: Can the Future be Foreseen?|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1964|title=The Grapevine: A Report on the Secret World of the Lesbian|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}{{cite web|title=The Grapevine|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jess-stearn-8/the-grapevine/|website=Kirkus Reviews|access-date=January 15, 2015}}
{{cite book|year=1965|title=Yoga, Youth and Reincarnation|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1967|title=Edgar Cayce: The Sleeping Prophet|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1968|title=The Search for the Girl with the Blue Eyes: A Venture Into Reincarnation|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1969|title=Adventures into the Psychic|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1969|title=The Second Life of Susan Ganther: Startling Story of Reincarnation|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1972|title=The Seekers: Drugs and the New Generation|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1972|title=A Time for Astrology|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1972|title=The Miracle Workers; America's Psychic Consultants|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1973|title=Dr Thompson's New Way for You to Cure Your Aching Back|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1973|title=The Search for a Soul: Taylor Caldwell's Psychic Lives|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1975|title=A Prophet in his Own Country: The Story of the Young Edgar Cayce|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1975|title=Romance of Atlantis|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1|author2=Caldwell, Taylor|author-link2=Taylor Caldwell}}
{{cite book|year=1976|title=A Matter of Immortality: Dramatic Evidence of Survival|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1976|title=The Power of Alpha-Thinking: Miracle of the Mind|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1977|title=I, Judas|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1|author2=Caldwell, Taylor|author-link2=Taylor Caldwell}}
{{cite book|year=1979|title=The Reporter|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1980|title=The Truth About Elvis|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1|author2=Geller, Larry|author-link2=Memphis Mafia}}
{{cite book|year=1981|title=In Search of Taylor Caldwell|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1984|title=Soulmates: Perfect Partners Past, Present, and Beyond|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1989|title=Intimates Through Time: Edgar Cayce's Mysteries Of Reincarnation|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1997|title=Meetings: A Reporter's Notebook: Provocative Interviews that Capture the Spirit of Our Times|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}
{{cite book|year=1998|title=The Physician Within You: Discovering the Power of Inner Healing|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1|author2=McGarey, Gladys}}
{{cite book|year=1998|title=Edgar Cayce on the Millennium|author1=Stearn, Jess|author-mask=1}}