The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini

by Joe Posnanski

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501137259
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	02/13/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	328
Sales rank:	233,834
File size:	19 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Joe Posnanski is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including The Baseball 100, Paterno, and The Secret of Golf. He has written for The Athletic, Sports Illustrated, NBC Sports, and The Kansas City Star and currently writes at JoePosnanski.com. He has been named National Sportswriter of the Year by five different organizations and is the winner of two Emmy Awards. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his family.

Table of Contents

Los Angeles, November 30, 1915 xi

The Truest Believer 1

Childhood

Lies and Illusions 11

The Origin Story 15

The Silverman Boxes 19

The Runaway Child 27

Bahl Yahn, the Strong Man 37

Metamorphosis

Torrini 47

The Name 53

The Early Days 65

Acid on the Dress 73

Sideshow 77

King of Cards 85

Magic Made Easy 97

Escape

Beck 103

Naked Ambition 107

Scotland Yard 115

Not a Love Match 121

The Fight of Cologne 129

Mirrors

The Mirror Cuffs 137

How He Did It (Theory One) 143

How He Did It (Theory Two) 147

How He Did It (Theories Galore) 151

My Guess 157

Miracles

The Needles 163

The Challenges 167

Straitjackets 173

The Bells of the Kremlin 181

Life and Death 189

Copperfield

Epic Rap Battle I 203

Korby's Clothing Store 205

Elephants and Statues 211

Epic Rap Battle II 225

Torture

Nothing Supernatural 229

Houdini Upside Down 231

The Empathy of Escape 237

The Secret 245

Inescapable Death

The Dutiful Son 251

Spirits of the Night 255

The Punch 263

The End 271

The Afterlife

There Is No Death 279

The Grim Game 285

The Unmasking 293

Afterword: Houdini's Ghost 299

Acknowledgments 309

A Selected Bibliography 313

Editorial Reviews

★ 10/01/2019

Posnanski (The Secret of Golf), a self-confessed Harry Houdini fan, has written a marvelously entertaining book about his magical hero, shedding light on the background, motivation, and methods of a man who built a career around deception. Beginning with the much-mythologized childhood of Houdini (1874–1926), Posnanski charts the course of the Hungarian-born American illusionist's career, interviewing both fellow fans and critics to separate fact from fiction, revealing along the way a highly ambitious, often contentious, yet oddly likable man who was both consummate showman and brilliant self-promoter. But Posnanski's book is not just a biography of Houdini: it's as much an exploration of why Houdini's fame and legend endures, and how that legacy has inspired, confounded, and influenced generations of magicians and magic enthusiasts. Throughout, Posnanski introduces an eclectic cast of Houdini acolytes and scholars whose stories illustrate Houdini's powerful, continued hold on the public imagination. VERDICT Imbued with Posnanski's infectious passion for all things Houdini, this is a rollicking look at one of the 20th century's most influential and enigmatic entertainers.—Sara Shreve, Newton, KS

Library Journal

08/12/2019

Legendary escape artist Harry Houdini used showmanship, bombast, and a bit of fraud to concoct magic that still inspires, according to this starry-eyed biography. Sports Illustrated columnist Posnanski (The Soul of Baseball) gives a brisk, episodic recap of the Hungarian-American magician’s rise to vaudeville’s summit by escaping handcuffs and straitjackets (sometimes in mid-air) and underwater traps as audiences agonized in suspense. Posnanski doesn’t reveal much Houdini methodology, but he does note the element of humbug: some of the seemingly impossible challenges he accepted were probably setups with confederates, and his signature upside down escape from a sealed, water-filled “Chinese Water-Torture Cell” was accomplished by lowering a curtain and having an assistant let him out. Houdini’s real genius, in Posnanski’s telling, was for publicity—his greatest PR agents were the many police departments that obligingly let him test himself against their restraints with reporters on hand—and romantic grandstanding. Posnanski intertwines the biography with profiles of present-day magicians and aficionados who acknowledge his mediocre magical chops but still revere him; these sections often drag, with their subjects coming off as skillful but gray magical technicians beside Houdini’s larger-than-life flimflammer. When Posnanski stays focused on Houdini, he gives readers an entertaining study on the power of a charismatic personality to conjure captivating illusions. Photos. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Marvelously entertaining . . . Imbued with Posnanski’s infectious passion for all things Houdini, this is a rollicking look at one of the 20th century’s most influential and enigmatic entertainers. . . . Posnanski’s book is not just a biography of Houdini: it’s as much an exploration of why Houdini’s fame and legend endures, and how that legacy has inspired, confounded, and influenced generations of magicians and magic enthusiasts.”
—Library Journal (starred review)

“Wonderful . . . When a talented writer like Posnanski tackles a subject as endlessly fascinating as Harry Houdini, the results are, quite simply, pure magic.”
—BookPage (starred review)

“Enthralling . . . This is a first-class book, a subtle stretching of the biographical form that is also superbly readable.”
—The Times (London)

“Joe Posnanski has produced the most informative and moving book ever written about Harry Houdini. It separates fact from fiction but also tackles the larger question of why the great escapist is still so loved (and hated!) in the magic community today. The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini is a remarkable journey into the heart of Houdini World.”
—John Cox, founder of “Wild About Harry” website

“As wise in its insights as it is thorough in its research, The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini is more than just a terrific Houdini biography. It is also a book about how we create and regard legends. Like all essential cultural histories, it concerns itself not just with what happened, but with why so many of us have cared so much.” —Linda Holmes, author of Evvie Drake Starts Over

“Whatever mystical inspiration drew Joe Posnanski to the story of Harry Houdini, readers will be forever grateful. Joe’s writing about the mysterious and mythical magician is touched by its own stunning magic.”
—David Maraniss, author of A Good American Family

From the Publisher

2019-08-18
Unlocking the doors to the legendary performer's world of magic.

Noting that there are more than 500 books about Ehrich Weiss, aka Harry Houdini (1874-1926), MLB.com national columnist Posnanski (The Secret of Golf: The Story of Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus, 2016, etc.) still delivers a jaunty and infectious biography of the famous magician and his impact on magic and popular culture. The author relates his discussions with magicians who have emulated or criticized Houdini's magic as well as the "truest believer[s]" who have studied and written about him for years. As a young boy, writes Posnanski, "locks spoke to Houdini, and Houdini understood." Though he said he was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, he was actually born in Budapest. This lie, discovered Posnanski, is a key to understanding how Houdini achieved his mythic status. "[Houdini] believed that magic was about the performer more than the performance," writes the author, "and the bigger, gaudier, more dangerous, more thrilling, the better." Posnanski's Houdini is a consummate liar and a genius at self-promotion. He hired ghost writer H.P Lovecraft to "tell exaggerated tales about him or write short stories under the Houdini name" and planted self-aggrandizing stories about himself in the local newspapers of the towns where he performed. Posnanski is excellent at describing Houdini's greatest escapes, from the famous Mirror Cuffs to straitjackets. The author chronicles his visit to David Copperfield's private museum; the Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he viewed the rare Houdini film, The Grim Game; and the Academy of Magical Arts' exclusive Magic Castle, where he finally got to meet Patrick Culliton, author of the rare and coveted Houdini: The Key. Houdini was good as a magician, Posnanski learns—he created the popular needles-in- the-mouth trick and made an elephant disappear—but he was, above all, a remarkable performer. Spoiler alert: The author does not reveal any Houdini secrets.

Entertaining and brimming with wonder.

Kirkus Reviews