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The Making of America's First Superhero
Atria
November 2006
On Sale: October 31, 2006
Featuring: Harry Houdini
608 pages ISBN: 0743272072 EAN: 9780743272070 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Biography
Handcuff King. Escape Artist. International Superstar.
Since his death eighty years ago, Harry Houdini's life has
been chronicled in books, in film, and on television. Now,
in this groundbreaking biography, renowned magic expert
William Kalush and best-selling writer Larry Sloman team up
to find the man behind the myth. Drawing from millions of
pages of research, they describe in vivid detail the
passions that drove Houdini to perform ever-more-dangerous
feats, his secret life as a spy, and a pernicious plot to
subvert his legacy. After years of struggling on the dime museum circuit, Harry
Houdini got a break that put him on the front page of a
Chicago newspaper. He never looked back. Soon Houdini was
performing for royalty, commanding vast sums, and exploring
the new power of Hollywood to expand on his legend. At a time when spy agencies frequently co-opted amateurs,
Houdini went to London and developed a relationship with a
man who would run MI-5. For the next several years, the
world's most famous magician traveled to Germany and Russia
and routinely reported his findings. After World War I was successfully concluded, Houdini
embarked on a battle of his own. He created a group of
disguised field operatives to infiltrate the seamy world of
fake spirit mediums. In doing so, Houdini triggered the
wrath of fanatical Spiritualists, led by the esteemed
British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Death threats became
an everyday occurrence, but the group would pose an even
greater danger to Houdini's legacy. Rigorously researched, and as exciting as a good thriller,
The Secret Life of Houdini traces the arc of the master
magician's life from desperate poverty to worldwide legend,
initiating the reader along the way into the arcane world of
professional magic. In this remarkable book, Kalush and
Sloman decode a life based on deception, providing an
intimate and riveting portrayal of Houdini, the man and the
legend.
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