UC Santa Cruz

Linda Goodman was America's first New Age celebrity. She was the author of the first book about astrology, Sun Signs, to make it onto the New York Times Best Sellers list in 1968, and her second book, Love Signs, set a record for the largest advance of $2.3 million. While Goodman was teaching the world how to search the skies for clarity, she was involved in her own mysterious pursuit. In 1973, Goodman's daughter Sally was found dead at the age of 21. Police declared the death a suicide, but Goodman believed the body found on the scene was a double and that the CIA had kidnapped her daughter. For the next two decades, Goodman depleted her sizeable fortune, hiring investigators and traveling the country chasing down leads. She may have had a column in McCall's Magazine and Steve McQueen's number in her Rolodex, but she was lambasted by the press, who regularly depicted her search as the product of irrational denial. Despite her literary success, she was branded a madwoman. This dissertation chronicles my search to understand an eccentric American icon.