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The Secret Life of Houdini

Author : William Kalush
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Release Date : 2008-09-04
ISBN 10 : 9781847396198
Pages : 608 pages
File Format : PDF, EPUB, TEXT, KINDLE or MOBI
Rating : 4.9/5 (194 users download)

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Download The Secret Life of Houdini book PDF by William Kalush and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-09-04 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using exclusive access to newly uncovered archives, Kalush and Sloman reveal the clandestine agreements in which the British and Americans recruited Houdini to be an active secret agent. In exchange for his cooperation, the governments of these two countries facilitated his rise to the top of the world stage. The authors give thrilling accounts of his assignments, such as his participation in early aerial surveillance and his use of his own magic magazine to communicate espionage-related information. After the war, Houdini embarked upon what became his most dangerous mission when he took on the Spiritualist movement. Convinced that Spiritualist mediums were frauds, he became obsessed with exposing them. But the Spiritualists were a powerful adversary. An organized network of fanatics, led by Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle, worked relentlessly to orchestrate a campaign that would silence Houdini forever. Grounded in solid research, but as exciting and dramatic as a good thriller, THE SECRET LIFE OF HOUDINI traces the magician's long and circuitous route from struggling vaudevillian to worldwide legend.

Our Gods Wear Spandex

Author : Chris Knowles
Publisher : Weiser Books
Release Date : 2007-11-30
ISBN 10 : 9781609253165
Pages : 240 pages
File Format : PDF, EPUB, TEXT, KINDLE or MOBI
Rating : 4.5/5 (167 users download)

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Download Our Gods Wear Spandex book PDF by Chris Knowles and published by Weiser Books. This book was released on 2007-11-30 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Was Superman's arch nemesis Lex Luthor based on Aleister Crowley? Can Captain Marvel be linked to the Sun gods on antiquity? In Our Gods Wear Spandex, Christopher Knowles answers these questions and brings to light many other intriguing links between superheroes and the enchanted world of estoerica. Occult students and comic-book fans alike will discover countless fascinating connections, from little known facts such as that DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz started his career as H.P. Lovecraft's agent, to the tantalizingly extensive influence of Madame Blavatsky's Theosophy on the birth of comics, to the mystic roots of Superman. The book also traces the rise of the comic superheroes and how they relate to several cultural trends in the late 19th century, specifically the occult explosion in Western Europe and America. Knowles reveals the four basic superhero archetypes--the Messiah, the Golem, the Amazon, and the Brotherhood--and shows how the occult Bohemian underground of the early 20th century provided the inspiration for the modern comic book hero. With the popularity of occult comics writers like Invisibles creator Grant Morrison and V for Vendetta creator Alan Moore, the vast ComiCon audience is poised for someone to seriously introduce them to the esoteric mysteries. Chris Knowles is doing just that in this epic book. Chapters include Ancient of Days, Ascended Masters, God and Gangsters, Mad Scientists and Modern Sorcerers, and many more. From the ghettos of Prague to the halls of Valhalla to the Fortress of Solitude and the aisles of BEA and ComiCon, this is the first book to show the inextricable link between superheroes and the enchanted world of esoterica. * Chris Knowles is associate editor and columnist for the five-time Eisner Award-winning Comic Book Artist magazine, as well as a pop culture writer for UK magazine Classic Rock. * Knowles worked with Robert Smigel on The X Presidents graphic novel, based on the popular Saturday Night Live cartoon, and has created designs and artwork for many of the world's top superheroes and fantasy characters. * Features the art of Joe Linsner, creator of the legendary Dawn series, and more recently a collaborator with comics maestro Stan Lee.

The Secret Life of Genius

Author : John Chambers
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Release Date : 2009-06-25
ISBN 10 : 9781594779268
Pages : 336 pages
File Format : PDF, EPUB, TEXT, KINDLE or MOBI
Rating : 4.7/5 (26 users download)

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Download The Secret Life of Genius book PDF by John Chambers and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2009-06-25 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A look at the metaphysical experiences that shaped the lives and work of 24 great men and women from the Renaissance to modern times • Chronicles the changing relationship with God, nature, and spirituality from the 16th century to the 20th century • Includes encounters with the paranormal of Ben Johnson, Isaac Newton, Mary Shelley, Leo Tolstoy, Doris Lessing, and Winston Churchill What role did the esoteric thought of Swedenborg play in the creative output of Honoré de Balzac? Did a supernatural encounter prompt Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley to focus her work on the theme of immortality? Building on his earlier research on communications with the spirit world that Victor Hugo, author of Les Misérables, experienced while in exile on the isle of Jersey, John Chambers now looks at the role occult knowledge and supernatural experiences played in the lives of 24 geniuses. His investigation spans the life and work of William Blake, Helena Blavatsky, and W. B. Yeats, whose esoteric interests are well known, as well as those little suspected of such encounters with worlds beyond ours, including Doris Lessing, Leo Tolstoy, Norman Mailer, Yukio Mishima, and Winston Churchill. Chambers presents more than a collection of anecdotes and newly revealed secrets. His research provides insightful historical context of the decisive turning point that took place with the collapse of Prague, the occult capital of Europe, in 1620, which resulted in the victory of Cartesian reality and Newton’s scientific paradigm over the esoteric traditions that flourished until that time. The magical and occult world shown in the lives of these 24 great men and women offers us a glimpse of what could still be ours--a world that though it is now overshadowed by modern scientific and technological principles is yet still visible on the horizon through the visions and paranormal experiences of these geniuses.

Harry Houdini for Kids

Author : Laurie Carlson
Publisher : Chicago Review Press
Release Date : 2009-02-01
ISBN 10 : 9781613741955
Pages : 144 pages
File Format : PDF, EPUB, TEXT, KINDLE or MOBI
Rating : 4.4/5 (952 users download)

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Download Harry Houdini for Kids book PDF by Laurie Carlson and published by Chicago Review Press. This book was released on 2009-02-01 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: &&LDIV&&R&&LDIV&&R&&LP style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"&&RIllusionist, escape artist, movie star, aviator, and spy—Harry Houdini was all these and an international celebrity and the world’s most famous magician. This fascinating biography looks at all the facets of Houdini’s amazing life and includes 21 magic tricks and illusions for a hands-on learning experience. Children will be inspired by this Jewish immigrant who grew up in poverty and, through perseverance and hard work, went on to become one of the most popular and successful entertainers of all time. Houdini was an artist who created his acts carefully, practicing them for years in some cases. He performed such seemingly impossible stunts as escaping several sets of handcuffs and ropes after jumping off a bridge into a flowing river. &&L/P&&R&&LP style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"&&R &&L/P&&R&&LP style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"&&RKids will learn how he devised his most legendary stunts and will also learn the science and logic behind many of Houdini’s acts including his famous milk can escape. Kids can amaze their family and friends with these simple, entertaining, and fun tricks and illusions: &&L/P&&R Stepping through an index card Performing an odd number trick Making a coin appear Mind reading with a secret code Making a magic box Lifting a person with one hand Making a talking board And much more &&LP style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"&&R &&L/P&&R&&L/DIV&&R&&L/DIV&&R

The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini

Author : Joe Posnanski
Publisher : Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
Release Date : 2020-10-13
ISBN 10 : 9781501137242
Pages : 336 pages
File Format : PDF, EPUB, TEXT, KINDLE or MOBI
Rating : 4.3/5 (247 users download)

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Download The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini book PDF by Joe Posnanski and published by Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2020-10-13 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Joe Posnanski enters the colorful world of Harry Houdini and his legions of devoted fans to explore the illusionist’s impact on global culture—and why his legacy endures to this day. Nearly a century after Harry Houdini died on Halloween in 1926, he feels as modern and alive as ever. The name Houdini still leaps to mind whenever we witness a daring escape. The baby who frees herself from her crib? Houdini. The dog who vanishes and reappears in the neighbor’s garden? Houdini. Every generation produces new disciples of the magician, from household names in magic like David Copperfield and David Blaine to countless other followers whose lives have been transformed by the power of Houdini. In rural Pennsylvania, a thirteen-year-old girl finds the courage to leave a violent home after learning that Houdini ran away to join the circus; she eventually becomes the first female magician to saw a man in half on television. In Australia, an eight-year-old boy with a learning impediment feels worthless until he sees an old poster of Houdini advertising “Nothing on earth can hold Houdini prisoner,” and begins his path to becoming that nation’s most popular magician. In California, an actor and Vietnam War veteran finds purpose in his life by uncovering the secrets of his hero. But the unique phenomenon of Houdini was always more than his death-defying stunts or his ability to escape handcuffs and straitjackets. It is also about the power of imagination and self-invention. His incredible transformation from Ehrich Weiss, humble Hungarian immigrant and rabbi’s son, into the self-named Harry Houdini has won him a slice of immortality. No one has withstood the test of time quite like Houdini. Fueled by Posnanski’s personal obsession with the magician—and magic itself—The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini is a poignant odyssey of discovery, blending biography, memoir, and first-person reporting to trace Houdini’s metamorphosis into an iconic figure who has inspired millions.

Focus On: 100 Most Popular Former Roman Catholics

Author : Wikipedia contributors
Publisher : e-artnow sro
Release Date :
ISBN 10 :
Pages : 2237 pages
File Format : PDF, EPUB, TEXT, KINDLE or MOBI
Rating : 4./5 ( users download)

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Download Focus On: 100 Most Popular Former Roman Catholics book PDF by Wikipedia contributors and published by e-artnow sro. This book was released on with total page 2237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

American Countercultures: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in U.S. History

Author : Gina Misiroglu
Publisher : Routledge
Release Date : 2015-03-26
ISBN 10 : 9781317477297
Pages : 1200 pages
File Format : PDF, EPUB, TEXT, KINDLE or MOBI
Rating : 4.7/5 (294 users download)

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Download American Countercultures: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in U.S. History book PDF by Gina Misiroglu and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-03-26 with total page 1200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Counterculture, while commonly used to describe youth-oriented movements during the 1960s, refers to any attempt to challenge or change conventional values and practices or the dominant lifestyles of the day. This fascinating three-volume set explores these movements in America from colonial times to the present in colorful detail. "American Countercultures" is the first reference work to examine the impact of countercultural movements on American social history. It highlights the writings, recordings, and visual works produced by these movements to educate, inspire, and incite action in all eras of the nation's history. A-Z entries provide a wealth of information on personalities, places, events, concepts, beliefs, groups, and practices. The set includes numerous illustrations, a topic finder, primary source documents, a bibliography and a filmography, and an index.

Houdini

Author : Adam Begley
Publisher : Yale University Press
Release Date : 2020-03-17
ISBN 10 : 9780300230796
Pages : 232 pages
File Format : PDF, EPUB, TEXT, KINDLE or MOBI
Rating : 4.3/5 (796 users download)

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Download Houdini book PDF by Adam Begley and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, an exuberant biography of the world's greatest escape artist In 1916, the war in Europe having prevented a tour abroad, Harry Houdini wrote a film treatment for a rollicking motion picture. Though the movie was never made, its title, "The Marvelous Adventures of Houdini: The Justly Celebrated Elusive American," provides a succinct summary of the Master Mystifier's life. Born Erik Weisz in Budapest in 1874, Houdini grew up an impoverished Jewish immigrant in the Midwest and became world-famous thanks to talent, industry, and ferocious determination. He concealed as a matter of temperament and professional ethics the secrets of his sensational success. Nobody knows how Houdini performed some of his dazzling, death-defying tricks, and nobody knows, finally, why he felt compelled to punish and imprison himself over and over again. Must a self-liberator also be a self-torturer? Tracking the restless Houdini's wide-ranging exploits, acclaimed biographer Adam Begley asks the essential question: What kind of man was this? About Jewish Lives: Jewish Lives is a prizewinning series of interpretative biography designed to explore the many facets of Jewish identity. Individual volumes illuminate the imprint of Jewish figures upon literature, religion, philosophy, politics, cultural and economic life, and the arts and sciences. Subjects are paired with authors to elicit lively, deeply informed books that explore the range and depth of the Jewish experience from antiquity to the present. In 2014, the Jewish Book Council named Jewish Lives the winner of its Jewish Book of the Year Award, the first series ever to receive this award. More praise for Jewish Lives: "Excellent." - New York times "Exemplary." - Wall St. Journal "Distinguished." - New Yorker "Superb." - The Guardian

Invented Lives, Imagined Communities

Author : William H. Epstein
Publisher : SUNY Press
Release Date : 2016-06-06
ISBN 10 : 9781438460796
Pages : 354 pages
File Format : PDF, EPUB, TEXT, KINDLE or MOBI
Rating : 4.6/5 (791 users download)

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Download Invented Lives, Imagined Communities book PDF by William H. Epstein and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2016-06-06 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How Hollywood biopics both showcase and modify various notions of what it means to be an American. Biopicsfilms that chronicle the lives of famous and notorious figures from our national historyhave long been one of Hollywoods most popular and important genres, offering viewers various understandings of American national identity. Invented Lives, Imagined Communities provides the first full-length examination of US biopics, focusing on key releases in American cinema while treating recent developments in three fields: cinema studies, particularly the history of Hollywood; national identity studies dealing with the American experience; and scholarship devoted to modernity and postmodernity. Films discussed include Houdini, Patton, The Great White Hope, Bound for Glory, Ed Wood, Basquiat, Pollock, Sylvia, Kinsey, Fur, Milk, J. Edgar, and Lincoln, and the book pays special attention to the crucial generic plot along which biopics traverse and showcase American lives, even as they modify the various notions of the national character. A provocative, critically astute study, this collection examines the biopic as a reflexive, refractive modernist film genre. Admirably researched essays provide close, compelling readings of chosen films, while exploring the multilayered matrices of historical fact, biographical and autobiographical literature, popular media representations, and cultural historiesshaping not only the lives and narratives of the performers, artists, and political/historical figures represented but also the practices of the filmmakers as they worked within or on the margins of the Hollywood industry. Cynthia Lucia, Rider University The volumes greatest strengths include its range, its variety of ideas on the significance of the biopic, and its researchdefinitive in several casesinto the relation between historical figures and their cinematic counterparts. James Morrison, author of Passport to Hollywood: Hollywood Films, European Directors

Supernatural America: A Cultural History

Author : Lawrence R. Samuel
Publisher : ABC-CLIO
Release Date : 2011-08-03
ISBN 10 : 9780313399008
Pages : 217 pages
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Rating : 4.9/5 ( users download)

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Download Supernatural America: A Cultural History book PDF by Lawrence R. Samuel and published by ABC-CLIO. This book was released on 2011-08-03 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is much more than an authoritative and compelling look at the cultural history of the supernatural over the last century in America—it also explains why we want to believe. • Shares hundreds of real-life stories, and uses hundreds of sources, many of them forgotten • Provides a bibliography of authoritative books and articles, both in support of and arguing against beliefs in the supernatural

The In-Betweens: The Spiritualists, Mediums, and Legends of Camp Etna

Author : Mira Ptacin
Publisher : Liveright Publishing
Release Date : 2019-10-29
ISBN 10 : 9781631493829
Pages : 288 pages
File Format : PDF, EPUB, TEXT, KINDLE or MOBI
Rating : 4.9/5 (825 users download)

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Download The In-Betweens: The Spiritualists, Mediums, and Legends of Camp Etna book PDF by Mira Ptacin and published by Liveright Publishing. This book was released on 2019-10-29 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A young writer travels to Maine to tell the unusual story of America’s longest-running camp devoted to mysticism and the world beyond. They believed they would live forever. So begins Mira Ptacin’s haunting account of the women of Camp Etna—an otherworldly community in the woods of Maine that has, since 1876, played host to generations of Spiritualists and mediums dedicated to preserving the links between the mortal realm and the afterlife. Beginning her narrative in 1848 with two sisters who claimed they could speak to the dead, Ptacin reveals how Spiritualism first blossomed into a national practice during the Civil War, yet continues—even thrives—to this very day. Immersing herself in this community and its practices—from ghost hunting to releasing trapped spirits to water witching— Ptacin sheds new light on our ongoing struggle with faith, uncertainty, and mortality. Blending memoir, ethnography, and investigative reportage, The In-Betweens offers a vital portrait of Camp Etna and its enduring hold on a modern culture that remains as starved for a deeper sense of connection and otherworldliness as ever.

Beliefs, Rituals, and Symbols of the Modern World

Author : Dean Miller
Publisher : Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC
Release Date : 2014-08-01
ISBN 10 : 9781627126847
Pages : 162 pages
File Format : PDF, EPUB, TEXT, KINDLE or MOBI
Rating : 4.2/5 (848 users download)

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Download Beliefs, Rituals, and Symbols of the Modern World book PDF by Dean Miller and published by Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC. This book was released on 2014-08-01 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn about the ethereal, the other-worldly, and the unknown of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in this fascinating look at the supernatural in the modern world.

Vaudeville Times

Author :
Publisher :
Release Date : 2004
ISBN 10 : STANFORD:36105133505565
Pages : 338 pages
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Rating : 4./5 ( users download)

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Download Vaudeville Times book PDF by and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Disappearing Tricks

Author : Matthew Solomon
Publisher :
Release Date : 2010
ISBN 10 : PSU:000064229294
Pages : 220 pages
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Rating : 4./5 ( users download)

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Download Disappearing Tricks book PDF by Matthew Solomon and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Disappearing Tricks revisits the golden age of theatrical magic and silent film to reveal how professional magicians shaped the early history of cinema. Where others have called upon magic as merely an evocative metaphor for the wonders of cinema, Matthew Solomon focuses on the work of the professional illusionists who actually made magic with moving pictures between 1895 and 1929. The first to reveal fully how powerfully magic impacted the development of cinema, the book combines film and theater history to uncover new evidence of the exchanges between magic and filmmaking in the United States and France during the silent period. Chapters detailing the stage and screen work of Harry Houdini and Georges Méliès show how each transformed theatrical magic to create innovative cinematic effects and thrilling new exploits for twentieth-century mass audiences. The book also considers the previously overlooked roles of anti-spiritualism and presentational performance in silent film. Highlighting early cinema's relationship to the performing body, visual deception, storytelling, and the occult, Solomon treats cinema and stage magic as overlapping practices that together revise our understanding of the origins of motion pictures and cinematic spectacle.

The Genesis of Mass Culture

Author : John Springhall
Publisher : Palgrave MacMillan
Release Date : 2008-03-15
ISBN 10 : STANFORD:36105124019196
Pages : 266 pages
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Rating : 4./5 ( users download)

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Download The Genesis of Mass Culture book PDF by John Springhall and published by Palgrave MacMillan. This book was released on 2008-03-15 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Springhall explores the European roots of certain entertainments & shows how they subsequently travelled across the Atlantic.

A History of Ghosts

Author : Peter H. Aykroyd
Publisher :
Release Date : 2009-09-29
ISBN 10 : PSU:000067174577
Pages : 272 pages
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Rating : 4./5 ( users download)

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Download A History of Ghosts book PDF by Peter H. Aykroyd and published by . This book was released on 2009-09-29 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The father of "Ghostbusters" star Dan Aykroyd shares the blockbuster movie's real-life inspiration: his own family's colorful history and experiences with the paranormal. color photo insert.

Performing Magic on the Western Stage

Author : Francesca Coppa
Publisher : Palgrave Studies in Theatre an
Release Date : 2008-11-15
ISBN 10 : UCSC:32106019878385
Pages : 264 pages
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Rating : 4./5 ( users download)

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Download Performing Magic on the Western Stage book PDF by Francesca Coppa and published by Palgrave Studies in Theatre an. This book was released on 2008-11-15 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Performing Magic on the Western Stage examines magic as a performing art and meaningful social practice. The essays in this interdisciplinary collection analyze the work of numerous western theatrical conjurers and several non-western magical performances in their historical context. Throughout, the contributors link magic to cultural arenas such as religion, finance, gender, and nationality. All of the contributors are connected to the internationally acclaimed Theory and Art of Magic program at Muhlenberg College, through which artists and scholars study the history, theory, and practice of the magical arts.