ABSTRACT Although scholars and practitioners alike have largely abandoned the label New Age, understanding the way the term gained popularity illuminates the way booksellers and publishers have defined and directed public discourse on religion. Shirley MacLaine’s Out on a Limb television series generated a significant interest in alternative spirituality, so booksellers and publishers tried to capitalize on this interest by creating a category of books that was anchored in the experiences of MacLaine and shed the negative associations with the “occult.” As journalists covered the boom in so-called “New Age” books, the broader public was introduced to not only a category of books but also to a category of religious beliefs and practices. This public understanding of New Age as a category of religion has persisted long after it receded as a popular category of books.
Andrew J. Connolly (Thu,) studied this question.