Houdini! : the career of Ehrich Weiss : American self-liberator, Europe's eclipsing sensation, world's handcuff king & prison breaker- nothing on Earth can hold HOUDINI a prisoner!!!

"Until now there has not been an adequate biography of Houdini. Kenneth Silverman, author of prizewinning biographies of Cotton Mather and Edgar A. Poe, has drawn on fresh information to produce a fascinating and rich account of Houdini's life."--BOOK JACKET. "Silverman tells the story of Houdini's origins as Ehrich Weiss, one of four sons of Rabbi Mayer Weiss, an emigre from Hungary to America; his theatrical debut in dime museums and burlesque shows during the 1890s; and his rapid rise to stardom that culminated in twenty-five years of worldwide fame. Silverman also describes Houdini's tangled family life, his war against Spiritualism, and his encounters with such celebrities as Sarah Bernhardt, Jack London, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Most of all, he re-creates the illusions and escapes that Houdini performed throughout Europe, the United States, Russia, and Australia - amazements that made Houdini the highest-paid variety artist of his time."--BOOK JACKET. "Drawing on scrapbooks and diaries that no other biographer has used, as well as stenographic transcripts, court records, and hundreds of unpublished notes and letter, Silverman treats in depth many unfamiliar facets of Houdini's career - Houdini as aviator, fight fan, inventor, author, filmmaker, book collector, and fraud-buster. He reveals for the first time Houdini's affair with the widow of a famous American writer and offers new information about his early circus days, his run-ins with anti-Semitism, his struggle to educate himself, his stormy rivalries with other magicians, and his sudden death at the age of fifty-two."--BOOK JACKET. "Enhanced by more than one hundred photographs of Houdini and his escapes, many never before or rarely published, Houdini!!! is a penetrating study of a legendary performer."--BOOK JACKET In the most comprehensive biography written about the great illusionist yet, author Ken Silverman, who has won both a Pulitzer and a Bancroft prize, draws on never-before-used scrapbooks, personal diaries, court transcripts and hundreds of unpublished notes and letters collected from around the world to reveal a far richer, more personal view of Houdini than ever before. While Silverman focuses on the magic and miraculous escapes that made Houdini a legend and the most celebrated, highest-paid performer of his day, he also delves deeply into Houdini's fascinating personal life. He explores Houdini's many friendships with politicians and celebrities like Jack Dempsey, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, Jack London, the Astors and others. He looks into his traumatic encounters with anti-Semitism; his close-knit family; his strange and troubled relationship with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; and his bitter war against spiritualism. He also uncovers new revelations about Houdini's secret affair with the widow of a famous American writer. Tells the story of escape artist and magician Harry Houdini's rise from performing at dime museums and burlesque shows to becoming the highest-paid variety artist in the world