James Redfield

James Redfield (born March 19, 1950) is an American author, lecturer, screenwriter and film producer. He is notable for his novel The Celestine Prophecy.

Biography

Redfield grew up in a rural area near Birmingham, Alabama. As a young man, he studied Eastern philosophies, including Taoism and Zen, while majoring in sociology at Auburn University. He later received a Master's degree in counseling and spent more than 15 years as a therapist to abused adolescents. During this time, he was drawn into the human potential movement and turned to it for theories about intuitions and psychic phenomena that would help his clients.

In 1989, he quit his job as a therapist to write full-time, synthesizing his interest in interactive psychology, Eastern and Western philosophies, science, futurism, ecology, history, and mysticism.

When Redfield self-published his first novel in 1992 (Satori Publishing), the immediate interest from booksellers and readers made The Celestine Prophecy one of the most successful self-published books of all time.Warner Books bought the rights and published the hard cover edition in March 1994. The book quickly climbed to the No. 1 position on the New York Times Best Seller List. According to Publishing Trends, The Celestine Prophecy was the No. 1 international bestseller of 1996 (#2 in 1995). The novel spent over 3 years on the New York Times Best Seller List. As of May 2005, The Celestine Prophecy had sold over 20 million copies worldwide and had been translated into 34 languages. In 1996, the sequel, The Tenth Insight: Holding the Vision (Warner Books), also became a bestseller. The two books spent a combined 74 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List, making their author the best-selling hard cover author in the world in 1996, as cited in BP Report (January 1997).

James Redfield (Iowa)

James Redfield (March 27, 1824-October 6, 1864) was an American politician and Civil War officer. He died at the Battle of Allatoona.

He was son of Luther Redfield and was born in Clyde, New York, March 27, 1824. He graduated from Yale College in 1845. After leaving college he studied law in his native place, was elected County School Commissioner, and finally accepted a position at Albany, New York in the office of Hon. Christopher Morgan, Secretary of State of New York.

In 1855, he removed to Iowa, and established himself near the geographical centre of the State. The town of Redfield, Iowa received its name from him. He held several offices of trust in Dallas County, Iowa, and in 1860 was elected to the Iowa State Senate.

On the outbreak of the Civil War he raised a company of which he was elected Captain, and on the organization of a regiment, the 39th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment, he was elected its Lieutenant Colonel. He continued in that post until his death. His regiment was in active service at the West, under Buel, Ulysses S. Grant, and William Tecumseh Sherman. When Allatoona Pass was attacked by French's Division of Hood's army, Col. Redfield, then garrisoning the town of Rome, Georgia, went forward with his command to defend the pass Whilecheering on his men to resist the rebel attack, a ball pierced his heart and he fell dead. His remains were buried in a village near the battle-field. He left a widow and three children