Jess Stearn (April 26, 1914 – March 27, 2002) was an American journalist and author of more than thirty books, nine of which were bestsellers.

Stearn was born inSyracuse, New York, to David Stearn, arabbi. He graduated fromSyracuse University.

Stearn became a journalist for theNew York Daily News and later an associate editor forNewsweek.^[1] He credited his journalistic training with helping him become a successful author.^[2]

Stearn specialized in books ofsensationalist speculative non-fiction. His early work focused on outsiders andmarginalized individuals such as prostitutes,drug addicts, and gay men (The Sixth Man).^[3][4] His later work focused onspirituality,the occult, andpsychic phenomena. His most popular works were two biographies on the American psychicEdgar Cayce;^[5][6] Stearn was a conference speaker for theAssociation for Research and Enlightenment and a proponent of Cayce's theories.^[7]

Stearn might have been one of the forerunners of bringing Eastern thought into the Western world through his best-selling 1965 book,Yoga, Youth and Reincarnation.^[8]

Stearn married twice and had two children, Martha and Fred. He had a longtime close friendship with actress and radio/television personalityArlene Francis. That may have had a connection to the first mention of his name in a nationally syndicated newspaper column. A reference to his latest book appeared in the Voice of Broadway column written by Francis' television colleagueDorothy Kilgallen. Either Kilgallen or her editor at theNew York Journal American placed a plug forYoga, Youth and Reincarnation in that paper's September 15, 1965, edition immediately after an item about an upcomingJohnnie Ray concert in Las Vegas.^[9] Ten years later, Francis discussed one of her recurringdreams with Stearn for a book he was writing that included a section on dreams.^[10][11] Stearn and Francis shared interests in yoga andweightlifting.^[12]

Stearn died ofcongestive heart failure on March 27, 2002, in hisMalibu, California, home. He chose not to have a funeral because of his belief inreincarnation.^[13][14]

• — (1954).Sisters of the Night: The Startling Story of Prostitution in New York Today.
• — (1959).The Wasted Years: Drug & Delinquent Stories.
• — (1961).The Sixth Man: A Startling Investigation of the Spread of Homosexuality in America.
• — (1963).The Door to the Future: Can the Future be Foreseen?.
• — (1964).The Grapevine: A Report on the Secret World of the Lesbian.^[15]
• — (1965).Yoga, Youth and Reincarnation.
• — (1967).Edgar Cayce: The Sleeping Prophet.
• — (1968).The Search for the Girl with the Blue Eyes: A Venture Into Reincarnation.
• — (1969).Adventures into the Psychic.
• — (1969).The Second Life of Susan Ganther: Startling Story of Reincarnation.
• — (1972).The Seekers: Drugs and the New Generation.
• — (1972).A Time for Astrology.
• — (1972).The Miracle Workers; America's Psychic Consultants.
• — (1973).Dr Thompson's New Way for You to Cure Your Aching Back.
• — (1973).The Search for a Soul: Taylor Caldwell's Psychic Lives.
• — (1975).A Prophet in his Own Country: The Story of the Young Edgar Cayce.
• —;Caldwell, Taylor (1975).Romance of Atlantis.
• — (1976).A Matter of Immortality: Dramatic Evidence of Survival.
• — (1976).The Power of Alpha-Thinking: Miracle of the Mind.
• —;Caldwell, Taylor (1977).I, Judas.
• — (1979).The Reporter.
• —;Geller, Larry (1980).The Truth About Elvis.
• — (1981).In Search of Taylor Caldwell.
• — (1984).Soulmates: Perfect Partners Past, Present, and Beyond.
• — (1989).Intimates Through Time: Edgar Cayce's Mysteries Of Reincarnation.
• — (1997).Meetings: A Reporter's Notebook: Provocative Interviews that Capture the Spirit of Our Times.
• —; McGarey, Gladys (1998).The Physician Within You: Discovering the Power of Inner Healing.
• — (1998).Edgar Cayce on the Millennium.

• 1914 births
• 2002 deaths
• Writers from Syracuse, New York
• Syracuse University alumni
• Jewish American journalists
• Jewish American non-fiction writers
• Writers from Los Angeles County, California
• Journalists from New York (state)
• American social sciences writers
• American spiritual writers
• New Age writers
• 20th-century American biographers
• 20th-century American journalists
• American male non-fiction writers
• 20th-century American Jews
• 21st-century American Jews
• 20th-century American male journalists
• Journalists from Malibu, California
• Writers from Malibu, California

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• Use mdy dates from October 2013