Richard Grossinger (born Richard Towers; 1944) is an American writer and founder of

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Biography

Grossinger was born and raised in New York City, attended

Horace Mann School Horace Mann School (also known as Horace Mann or HM) is an American private, independent college-preparatory school in the Bronx, founded in 1887. Horace Mann is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League, educating students from the New Yo ...

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

, and the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, earning a B.A. in English at Amherst and a Ph.D. in anthropology at Michigan. With his girlfriend at Smith College (later his wife) Lindy Hough, he founded the journal '' Io'' in 1964, then founded

in Vermont in 1974. Between 1970 and 1972 he taught anthropology at the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...

, Portland-Gorham, now the

University of Southern Maine The University of Southern Maine (USM) is a public university with campuses in Gorham and Portland, Maine, United States. It is the southernmost university in the University of Maine System. It was founded as two separate state universities, Go ...

, and between 1972 and 1977 he taught interdisciplinary studies (including alchemy, Melville, Classical Greek, Jungian psychology, and ethnoastronomy) at

Goddard College Goddard College was a Private college, private college with three locations in the United States: Plainfield, Vermont; Port Townsend, Washington; and Seattle. The college offered undergraduate and graduate degree programs. With predecessor ins ...

Plainfield, Vermont Plainfield, a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States was incorporated in 1867. The population was 1,236 at the 2020 census. Plainfield is the location of Goddard College. Geography Plainfield is located at . According to the United ...

. An ethnographer and self-described psycho-spiritual explorer, as well as a writer and publisher, he has latterly studied a range of

alternative medicine Alternative medicine refers to practices that aim to achieve the healing effects of conventional medicine, but that typically lack biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or supporting evidence of effectiveness. Such practices are ...

s. As a child, a psychic told him that his biological father had actually been a member of the Grossinger family (of the

Grossinger's Catskill Resort Hotel Grossinger's Catskill Resort Hotel was a resort in the Catskill Mountains in the Liberty (town), New York, Town of Liberty, near the village of Liberty (village), New York, Liberty, New York. It was a kosher establishment that catered primarily to ...

, where Grossinger had vacationed) and he eventually changed his last name to reflect this family connection. However, years later he learned that his biological father had been an entirely different person with no connection to the resort. His brother was Jonathan Towers, a poet who committed suicide in 2005. His daughter is

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

and

performance artist Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

Miranda July Miranda July (born Miranda Jennifer Grossinger; February 15, 1974) is an American film director, screenwriter, actress and author. Her body of work includes film, fiction, monologue, digital presentations and live performance art. She wrote, di ...

. His son is Robin Grossinger, an author and Senior Scientist at the

San Francisco Estuary Institute The San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) is a nonprofit research institute focusing on the estuaries and ecosystems of San Francisco Bay and Northern California. SFEI was created in 1992 in order to coordinate integrated research and monitoring ...

Bibliography

Books written by Grossinger

*''Solar Journal (Oecological Sections)'' (1970) Black Sparrow Press *''Spaces Wild & Tame'' (1971) Mudra *''The Book of the Earth and Sky'' (1971, 2 Vols) Black Sparrow Press *''Mars: A Science Fiction Vision'' (1972) Io Books o ISBN*''Two Essays'' (Sparrow 7) (1973) Black Sparrow Press o ISBN*''The Continents'' (1973) Black Sparrow Press *''The Book of Being Born Again into the World'' (1974) North Atlantic Books *''Book of the Cranberry Islands'' (1974) Black Sparrow Press *''The Windy Passage from Nostalgia'' (1974) North Atlantic Books *''The Long Body of the Dream'' (1974) North Atlantic Books *''Martian Homecoming at the All-American Revival Church'' (1974) North Atlantic Books *''The Slag of Creation'' (1975) North Atlantic Books *''The Provinces'' (1975) North Atlantic books *''Unfinished Business of Doctor Hermes'' (1976) North Atlantic Books *''Planet Medicine: From Stone-Age Shamanism to Post-Industrial Healing'' (1980/1990) North Atlantic Books *''The Night Sky: The Science and Anthropology of the Stars and Planets'' (1981/1988/1992) North Atlantic Books *''Nuclear Strategy and the Code of the Warrior'' (1984) North Atlantic Books *''Embryogenesis: Species, Gender and Identity'' (1985/2000) North Atlantic Books *''Waiting for the Martian Express: Cosmic Visitors, Earth Warriors, Luminous Dreams'' (1989) North Atlantic Books *''Homeopathy: An Introduction for Skeptics and Beginners'' (1993) North Atlantic Books *''Planet Medicine: Modalities'' (1995/2003) North Atlantic books *''New Moon'' (1996) Frog Ltd *''Out of Babylon: Ghosts of Grossinger's'' (1997) Frog Ltd *''Homeopathy: The Great Riddle'' (1998) North Atlantic Books *''Embryos, Galaxies, and Sentient Beings: How the Universe Makes Life''(2003) North Atlantic Books *''On the Integration of Nature: Post 9-11 Biopolitical Notes'' (2005) North Atlantic Books *''Migraine Auras: When the Visual World Fails'' (2006) North Atlantic Books *''The New York Mets: Myth, Ethnography, Subtext'' (2007) Frog Ltd *''The Bardo of Waking Life'' (2008) North Atlantic Books *''2013: Raising the Earth to the Next Vibration'' (2010) North Atlantic Books 9781556438783

Works edited by Grossinger

*''The Alchemical Tradition in the Late Twentieth Century'' (1970) *''Baseball Diamonds: Tales, Traces, Visions & Voodoo from a Native American Rite'' (1980 with Kevin Kerrane) *''Planetary Mysteries: Megaliths, Glaciers, The Face on Mars, and Aboriginal Dreams'' (1986, Revised 1993) *''The Dreamlife of Johnny Baseball'' (1987 with works by Tom Clark, Jerome Klinkowitz, Grossinger, W.P. Kinsella, Richard Russo, Nancy Willard) *''Into the Temple of Baseball'' (1990/2000 with Kevin Kerrane)

Select Io Journal editions

*''#4: Alchemy Issue.'' 1967. *''#5: Doctrine of Signatures.'' 1968. *''#6: Ethnoastronomy Issue.'' 1969. *''#8: Dreams Issue on Oneirology.'' 1971. *''#9: Mars: A Science Fiction Vision.'' 1971. *''#10: Baseball Issue.'' 1971. *''#12: Earth Geography Booklet No. 1.'' 1972. *''#13: Earth Geography Booklet No. 2.'' 1972. *''#14: Earth Geography Booklet No. 3.'' 1973. *''#15: Earth Geography Booklet No. 4.'' 1973. *''#18: Early Field Notes From the All-American Revival Church.'' 1973. *''#19: Mind/Memory/Psyche.'' 1974. *''#20: Biopoesis.'' 1974. *''#21 'Vermont: Geology and Mineral Industries, Flora, Fauna & Conditions of Sky'' (1974) *''#22: An Olson-Melville Sourcebook, Vol. 1: The New Found Land/North America.'' 1976. *''#23: An Olson-Melville Sourcebook, Volume 2: The Mediterranean.'' 1976. *''#24: Baseball, I Gave You All the Best Years of My Life'' (1977 with Kevin Kerrane; 1992 with Lisa Conrad) *''#25: Ecology and Consciousness: Traditional Wisdom on the Environment.'' 1978. *''#26: Alchemy: Pre-Egyptian Legacy, Millennial Promise'' 1979. *''#31: Alchemical Tradition in the Late Twentieth Century.'' 1983/1991. *''#34: The Temple of Baseball.'' 1985. *''#37: Planetary Mysteries'' 1986. *''#46: Nuclear Strategy and the Code of the Warrior (with Lindy Hough).'' 1992

References

External links

richardgrossinger.comNorth Atlantic Books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grossinger, Richard 1944 births Living people American male non-fiction writers American spiritual writers Jewish American non-fiction writers New Age writers Horace Mann School alumni Amherst College alumni University of Michigan alumni University of Maine faculty 21st-century American Jews