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 publ...

Pull back the curtain on the real history of magic – and discover why magic really mattersIf 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...

This Encyclopedia Forteana anthologizes the cult hero’s four classic works on the strange, the unexplained, and the just plain weird: The Book of the Damned, Lo!, Wild Talents, and New Lands. It features Fort’s complete, unabridged text and a subject index.Here are the four books that invented our understanding of the paranormal. These are cult hero Charles Fort’s defining records of bizarre, haunting, strange, and inexplicable “facts” for which s...

The seminal biography of the twentieth century’s premier chronicler of the paranormal, Charles Fort—a man whose very name gave rise to an adjective, fortean, to describe the unexplained.By the early 1920s, Americans were discovering that the world was a strange place.Charles Fort could demonstrate that it was even stranger than anyone suspected. Frogs fell from the sky. Blood rained from the heavens. Mysterious airships visited the Earth. Dogs talk...

**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 ...

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 humb...

A Curious Man is the marvelously compelling biography of Robert “Believe It or Not” Ripley, the enigmatic cartoonist turned globetrotting millionaire who won international fame by celebrating the world's strangest oddities, and whose outrageous showmanship taught us to believe in the unbelievable.As portrayed by acclaimed biographer Neal Thompson, Ripley’s life is the stuff of a classic American fairy tale. Buck-toothed and cursed by shyness, Ripley turned his sense of bei...

Here's your ticket to the greatest mystery-writing workshop ever!In this extraordinary compilation, more than three dozen members of the Mystery Writers of America share insights and advice that can help make your writing dreams a reality.You'll learn how to:• Develop unique ideas• Construct an airtight plot packed with intrigue and suspense• Create compelling characters and atmospheric settings• Develop a writing style all your...

A beautifully written history of high society in Newport, Rhode Island, from the acclaimed author of Party of the CenturyNewport is the legendary and beautiful home of American aristocracy and the sheltered super-rich. Many of the country's most famous blueblood families?the closest thing we have to royalty?have lived and summered in Newport since the nineteenth century. The Astors, the Vanderbilts, Edith Wharton, JFK and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Dori...

There are so many fantastic authors and great books out there that sometimes it’s hard to know where to begin. Start Here solves that problem; it tells you how to read your way into 25 amazing authors from a wide range of genres--from classics to contemporary fiction to comics. Each chapter presents an author, explains why you might want to try them, and lays out a 3- or 4-book reading sequence designed to help you experience fully what they have to offer. It’s a fun, accessible, and infor...

The true story of Grace of Monaco, America's transatlantic Princess and one of the most beautiful women who ever lived. This is the real story of Grace Kelly, behind the Nicole Kidman story. A once in a lifetime story of an Oscar winning actress, a royal princess and a great beauty whose life ended far too soon. Based on three years research and over one hundred interviews, including interviews with nine of Grace's lovers and with her nephew, Baron Christian de Massy, the book also reveals...

This "page-turning biography" reveals the extraordinary life of the children's book author behind Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny ( BookPage).Millions of people around the world know Margaret Wise Brown through her classic works of children's literature. But few know that she was equally remarkable for her business savvy, her thirst for adventure, and her vital role in a children's book publishing revolution.Margaret used her w...