Major figures like Emerson (the Magician), Whitman (the World), and Thoreau (the Hermit) are outlined in the short chapters that accompany each card. Listen as the Kings of the four suits, Herman Melville (Wands), Frederick Douglass (Coins), Edgar Allan Poe (Swords), and Nathaniel Hawthorne (Cups), tell their tales as illustrated in the Minor Arcana. Over thirty writers from the years 1825 to 1875 are profiled in this project that expertly reveals how America’s metaphysical history is at work beneath the surface of its classic literature.

Thea Wirsching, illustrated by Celeste Pille