As a digital subscriber, you’ll receive unlimited access to Horn Book web exclusives and extensive archives, as well as access to our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database.
To access other site content, visit The Horn Book homepage.
To continue you need an active subscription to hbook.com.
Subscribe now to gain immediate access to everything hbook.com has to offer, as well as our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database, which contains tens of thousands of short, critical reviews of books published in the United States for young people.
Thank you for registering. To have the latest stories delivered to your inbox, select as many free newsletters as you like below.
No thanks. Return to article
The Magician and the Spirits: Harry Houdini and the Curious Pastime of Communicating with the Dead
152 pp.
| Viking |
August, 2017 |
TradeISBN 978-0-8037-4018-1$18.99
(2)
4-6
Noyes uses Houdini's attempts to discredit the late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Spiritualist movement as her entry point into the intriguing phenomenon. She provides historical context and relates incidents from Houdini's life, including his friendship with staunch believer Arthur Conan Doyle and his attempts to unmask "flimflammers." The book concludes that humans will believe in those fictions they wish to. Websites. Bib., ind.
Reviewer: Betty Carter
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
November, 2017