The Glorious Deception By Jim Steinmeyer

The Glorious Deception By Jim Steinmeyer

Pre- Owned Hardback Magic Book

Good Condition - Slight Shelf wear - Please see photos for condition

In a biography woven from equal parts enchantment and mystery, Jim Steinmeyer
unveils the secrets behind the most enigmatic performer in the history of stage
magic, Chung Ling Soo, the "Marvelous Chinese Conjurer"--a magician
whose daring made his contemporary Houdini seem like the boy next door. Soo's
infamous and suspicious onstage death in 1918 mystified his fellow magicians:
he was shot during a performance of "Defying the Bullets," in which
he attempted to catch marked bullets on a porcelain plate. When Soo died, his
deceptions began to unravel. It was discovered that he was not Chinese but a
fifty-eight-year-old American named William Ellsworth Robinson, a former
magicians' assistant and the husband of Olive Robinson. But even William
Robinson was not who he appeared to be, for he had kept a second family with a
mistress in a fashionable home near London. Here is a look at the
rough-and-tumble world of turn-of-the-century entertainments, the West's
discovery of Oriental culture, and Soo's strange descent into secrecy as he
rose to stardom--written by the foremost chronicler of magic's history and
culture. Due to the scandals surrounding Robinson's death, this is the first
time his full story has ever been told. Photographs are included.