Here is the seminal biography of the magician's magician, Howard Thurston, a man who surpassed Houdini in the eyes of showmen and fans and set the standard fro how stage magic is performed today. Everyone knows Houdini-but who was Thurston? In this rich, vivid biography of the "greatest magician in the world," celebrated historian of stage magic Jim Steinmeyer captures the career and controversies of the wonder-worker extraordinaire, Howard Thurston. The public's fickleness over magicians has left Thurston all but forgotten today. Yet Steinmeyer shows how his story is one of the most remarkable in show business. During his life, from 1869 to 1936, Thurston successfully navigated the most dramatic changes in entertainment-from street performances to sideshows to wagon tours through America's still-wild West to stage magic amid the glitter of grand theaters. Thurston became one of America's most renowned vaudeville stars, boldly performing an act with just a handful of playing cards, and then had the foresight to leave vaudeville, expanding his show into an extravaganza with more than forty tons of apparatusand costumes. His touring production was an American institution for nearly thirty years, and Thurston earned a brand name equal to Ziegfeld or Ringling Brothers. Steinmeyer explores the stage and psychological rivalry between Thurston and Houdini during the first decades of the twentieth century- a contest that Thurston won. He won with a bigger show, a more successful reputation, and the title of America's greatest magician. In The Last Greatest Magician in the World, Thurston's magic show is revealed as the one that animates our collective memories.

A showstopping quirky gift book for budding magicians, filled with mind-blowing removable magic tricks. Prepare to be amazed!Elliot is crazy about magic. It's all he talks about, all he thinks about, and even all he dreams about! And it's not surprising, because magic is in Elliot's blood. His great-grandfather had once been known as The Greatest Magician in the World and Elliot is desperate to follow in his footsteps. But it's hard when the only magic book in the library is missing half its pages, and there's no one around to teach you. But all that's about to change, when Elliot discovers a long-lost letter from his great-grandfather and embarks on a magical adventure that could change his life forever!Be bamboozled by the Mind-Reading Underpants Trick, or wowed with the Disappearing Object Trick! Written by former professional magician Matt Edmondson, The Greatest Magician in the World is an incredible interactive novelty gift book featuring a brilliantly witty and exciting quest story, a cast of personality-packed magicians and everything you need to perform seven jaw-dropping magic tricks. Abracadabra!

Describes how a variety of magic tricks are performed by leading magicians, including Doug Henning, the Amazing Kreskin, Harry Houdini, Siegfried & Roy, and Mark Wilson.

Pull back the curtain on the real history of magic – and discover why magic really matters If you read a standard history of magic, you learn that it begins in ancient Egypt, with the resurrection of a goose in front of the Pharaoh. You discover how magicians were tortured and killed during the age of witchcraft. You are told how conjuring tricks were used to quell rebellious colonial natives. The history of magic is full of such stories, which turn out not to be true. Behind the smoke and mirrors, however, lies the real story of magic. It is a history of people from humble roots, who made and lost fortunes, and who deceived kings and queens. In order to survive, they concealed many secrets, yet they revealed some and they stole others. They engaged in deception, exposure, and betrayal, in a quest to make the impossible happen. They managed to survive in a world in which a series of technological wonders appeared, which previous generations would have considered magical. Even today, when we now take the most sophisticated technology for granted, we can still be astonished by tricks that were performed hundreds of years ago. The Secret History of Magic reveals how this was done. It is about why magic matters in a world that no longer seems to have a place for it, but which desperately needs a sense of wonder.

Harry Houdini was a great escape artist, but perhaps his greatest trick was becoming the famous magician that we have come to know. As a child, Houdini worked hard--and even quit school--to help support his family. But his dream always was to become a great magician and performer. He practiced day and night, thinking up new tricks and more and more dangerous stunts. His intense ambition paid off, and soon Harry Houdini became known worldwide! This kid-appealing Step 3 traces Houdini's life from his poor beginnings to his eventual success as the most famous mystical magician and escape artist of all time.

An instant New York Times bestseller! “Will keep you guessing until the last page.” —Cinda Williams Chima, New York Times bestselling author A girl travels back in time to find a mysterious book that could save her future in Lisa Maxwell’s “splendid series opener” (Kirkus Reviews). Stop the Magician. Steal the book. Save the future. In modern-day New York, magic is all but extinct. The remaining few who have an affinity for magic—the Mageus—live in the shadows, hiding who they are. Any Mageus who enters Manhattan becomes trapped by the Brink, a dark energy barrier that confines them to the island. Crossing it means losing their power—and often their lives. Esta is a talented thief, and she's been raised to steal magical artifacts from the sinister Order that created the Brink. With her innate ability to manipulate time, Esta can pilfer from the past, collecting these artifacts before the Order even realizes she’s there. And all of Esta’s training has been for one final job: traveling back to 1902 to steal an ancient book containing the secrets of the Order—and the Brink—before the Magician can destroy it and doom the Mageus to a hopeless future. But Old New York is a dangerous world ruled by ruthless gangs and secret societies, a world where the very air crackles with magic. Nothing is as it seems, including the Magician himself. And for Esta to save her future, she may have to betray everyone in the past.

Professional magician Joshua Jay's (author of Magic: The Complete Course) brief and fascinating essays offer an inside look at how the very best magicians think about magic, how they practice and put together a show, what inspires them, and the psychology behind creating wonder and being tricked when we expect both, as well as why we seek magic in the first place.

Now in paperback comes Steinmeyer's astonishing chronicle of half a century of illusionary innovation, backstage chicanery, and keen competition within the world of magicians.

The acclaimed author of The Last Greatest Magician in the World sleuths out literature's iconic vampire, uncovering the source material—from folklore and history, to personas including Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman—behind Bram Stoker's lord of the undead. Praise for Who Was Dracula? “A fantastic, well-documented story.” —Library Journal (starred review) “[A] well-researched and entertaining take on Dracula’s origin story.” —Publishers Weekly “Who Was Dracula? chronicles the misadventures of Bram Stoker and his numerous friends and colleagues, both famous and obscure, hoping to unearth the recipe for a truly iconic character.” —San Francisco Book Review “Who Was Dracula? is a book you’ll want to sink your teeth into.” —“The Bookworm Sez”