The Secret Life of Houdini
The Making of America's First Superhero
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Narrated by:
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Adam Grupper
About this listen
After years of struggling on the dime-museum circuit, Harry Houdini got a break that thrust him into the spotlight, performing for royalty and commanding vast sums. At a time when spy agencies frequently co-opted amateurs, Houdini went to London and developed a relationship with a man who would run MI-5; for the next several years, he traveled to Germany and Russia and routinely reported his findings. After World War I, Houdini set out to infiltrate and expose the seamy world of fake spirit mediums, triggering the wrath of a group of fanatical spiritualists led by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Death threats became an everyday occurrence, but the group would pose an even greater danger to Houdini's legacy.
As exciting as any good thriller, The Secret Life of Houdini traces the arc of the master magician's life from desperate poverty to worldwide legend and initiates the listener into the arcane world of professional magic.
©2006 Light and Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved (P)2006 Simon and Schuster Inc. All rights reserved. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon and Schuster Audio Division, Simon and Schuster Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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The wayward son of a revered Civil War general, Roland Molineux enjoyed good looks, status, and fortune - hardly the qualities of a prime suspect in a series of shocking, merciless cyanide killings. Molineux's subsequent indictment for murder led to two explosive trials and a sex-infused scandal that shocked the nation. Bringing to life Manhattan's Gilded Age, Schechter captures all the colors of the tumultuous legal proceedings.
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A Book Without an Accompanying Wiki Page Is Always A Treat
- By Carolina on 02-27-17
By: Harold Schechter
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Sin in the Second City
- Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul
- By: Karen Abbott
- Narrated by: Joyce Bean
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Karen Abbott's colorful, nuanced portrait of the iconic Everleigh sisters; their world-famous brothel, the Everleigh Club; and the perennial clash between our nation's hedonistic impulses and Puritanical roots culminates in a dramatic last stand between brothel keepers and crusading reformers. Sin in the Second City offers a vivid snapshot of America's journey from Victorian-era propriety to 20th-century modernity.
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Great book - brilliant narrator!
- By Z. Halley on 04-17-10
By: Karen Abbott
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A Flame of Pure Fire
- Jack Dempsey and the Roaring '20s
- By: Roger Kahn
- Narrated by: Kevin Yon
- Length: 17 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Through most of the Roaring '20s, Jack Dempsey was the heavyweight champion of the world. With his fierce good looks and matchless dedication to the kill, he was a fighter perfectly suited to his time. In A Flame of Pure Fire, renowned sports writer Roger Kahn not only chronicles the thrilling, brutal bouts of the Manassa Mauler, but also illustrates how the tumultuous 1920s shaped Dempsey - and how the champ, in turn, left an indelible mark on sports and American history.
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Ambitious but poorly executed
- By Keith on 10-02-19
By: Roger Kahn
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The Day Lincoln Was Shot
- By: Jim Bishop
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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In a historical classic as enthralling as a novel, author Jim Bishop colorfully depicts the city of Washington as it is celebrating the end of the Civil War. With research carefully gathered over 25 years, he weaves details together so skillfully, that even though you know the outcome, the suspense heightens with each unfolding event. It’s Good Friday, April 14, 1865. While all around him, people demand vengeance on the subdued southern states, the President plans to rebuild demolished cities and send captured Secessionist soldiers home to plant their crops.
By: Jim Bishop
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A Bright and Guilty Place
- Murder, Corruption, and L.A.'s Scandalous Coming of Age
- By: Richard Rayner
- Narrated by: Brett Barry
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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In A Bright and Guilty Place, an exhilarating tale of murder in L.A., Richard Rayner finds the source of the city's darkness in real-life events that unfolded in the 1920s, when the booming early years of L.A. started to shade into the Depression, and the city of sunshine revealed the hidden darkness and corruption at its heart.
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Didn't hold my interest
- By Hopesurvives on 11-03-17
By: Richard Rayner
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My Autobiography
- By: Charles Chaplin, David Robinson - introduction
- Narrated by: Steve John Shepherd
- Length: 19 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Take an unforgettable journey with the man George Bernard Shaw called "the only genius to come out of the movie industry" as he moves from his impoverished South London childhood to the heights of Hollywood wealth and fame; from the McCarthy-era investigations to his founding of United Artists to his "reverse migration" back to Europe.
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Finally Chaplin’s auto is available!
- By Ryan Baumbach on 04-28-22
By: Charles Chaplin, and others
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Hellhound on His Trail
- The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin
- By: Hampton Sides
- Narrated by: Hampton Sides
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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On April 23, 1967, Prisoner #416J, an inmate at the notorious Missouri State Penitentiary, escaped in a breadbox. Fashioning himself Eric Galt, this nondescript thief and con man - whose real name was James Earl Ray -drifted through the South, into Mexico, and then Los Angeles, where he was galvanized by George Wallace's racist presidential campaign. With relentless storytelling drive, Sides follows Galt and King as they crisscross the country, one stalking the other, until the crushing moment at the Lorraine Motel.
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History Comes Alive
- By L. Lyter on 06-29-10
By: Hampton Sides
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American Rose
- A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee
- By: Karen Abbott
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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With the critically acclaimed Sin in the Second City, best-selling author Karen Abbott “pioneered sizzle history” (USA Today). Now she returns with the gripping and expansive story of America’s coming-of-age - told through the extraordinary life of Gypsy Rose Lee and the world she survived and conquered. America in the Roaring Twenties. Vaudeville was king. Talking pictures were only a distant flicker. Speakeasies beckoned beyond dimly lit doorways; money flowed fast and free.
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Well done biography of a complicated Icon
- By Moire on 01-27-11
By: Karen Abbott
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American Brutus
- John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies
- By: Michael Kauffman
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 21 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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In American Brutus, popular historian Michael W. Kauffman delivers a history that reads more like a best-selling novel. This definitive masterwork dispels commonly held myths and reveals the truth about John Wilkes Booth. Luring Southern sympathizers into a “noble” presidential kidnapping, Booth stunned his puzzled pawns by murdering Lincoln. From Booth’s early life and acting career to his escape and death, this meticulously researched book re-examines it all using a wealth of primary sources.
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informative
- By Sue Ogle on 11-27-20
By: Michael Kauffman
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Charlatan
- America's Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him and the Age of Flimflam
- By: Pope Brock
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the enormously entertaining story of how a fraudulent surgeon made a fortune by inserting goats' testes into impotent American men. "Doctor" John Brinkley became a world renowned authority on sexual rejuvenation in the 1920s, with famous politicians and even royalty asking for his services.
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nix the narrator
- By susan nenadic on 02-08-09
By: Pope Brock
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Grant's Final Victory
- Ulysses S. Grant's Heroic Last Year
- By: Charles Bracelen Flood
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Shortly after losing all of his wealth in a terrible 1884 swindle, Ulysses S. Grant learned he had terminal throat and mouth cancer. Destitute and dying, Grant began to write his memoirs to save his family from permanent financial ruin. As Grant continued his work, suffering increasing pain, the American public became aware of this race between Grant's writing and his fatal illness. Twenty years after his respectful and magnanimous demeanor toward Robert E. Lee at Appomattox, people in the North and the South came to know Grant, now using his famous determination in this final effort.
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Great story, average narration
- By Tad Davis on 04-25-12
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The Italian Secretary
- By: Caleb Carr
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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The best-selling author of the Alienist series returns with a chilling elaboration on the Sherlock Holmes canon, as the famed detective investigates a pair of gruesome murders, which cast an otherworldly shadow as far as Queen Victoria herself.
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A True Delight for the Holmes Enthusiast
- By Sagar on 06-03-05
By: Caleb Carr
What listeners say about The Secret Life of Houdini
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- 10-21-14
Very good, but wanted more.
Any additional comments?
I really enjoyed this book. I learned a lot about Houdini that I didn't know. But this was an abridged book and I felt there were some things left out or overly summarized. I'll check out the unabridged version from the library.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Kintsukuroi
- 04-18-16
Great listen
This story had enough detail about his life to keep you interested but not so much that it became boring. It was really interesting and kept me listening to the whole book on one long road trip.
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- Sean J Kalin
- 07-12-20
JUST WHEN YOU THOGHT YOU KNEW THE STORY>>>
A great book. I could not put it down. Just when I thought I knew the whole story, this book comes around, and now I have a renewed interest . I am also full of questions. Just what every book should do. Bravo...
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- Chad
- 05-16-15
Absolutely Captivating
A friend of mine recommended this book to me and it turned out to be awesome. especially the part about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle the author of Sherlock Holmes towards the end there certainly some sides of your day of the Houdini story probably never heard
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- Pakata
- 11-18-22
Good Story. Just general overview
This is a well laid out 10,000 feet look at Houdini’s life. It is enjoyable and has good information and production. Like all abridgments, it is somewhat choppy in the storyline and does not give you much detail. It was an average, enjoyable book nonetheless
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1 person found this helpful
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- Tim
- 04-17-17
Magical
Greatly insightful look into the life of a master magician and psychic revealer. It is clear the authors did their homework right.
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- daniel a thompson
- 11-28-12
Awesome !
Would you listen to The Secret Life of Houdini again? Why?
Really interesting. So much I didn't know about him
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Secret Life of Houdini?
His battle with Sir Conan Dooyle
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
His story about flying a plane in Australia
Any additional comments?
highly recommend
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2 people found this helpful
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- Nancy Rojas
- 01-09-23
Houdini
Cbcbdb chdbdbdhdbxbjendbjsbjxb h brush dud due did cud did did did did dud dud dud
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- apad
- 07-27-18
great story about an amazing man
I knew the gist of Houdini's life from documentaries, but was still surprised by how much he did, and struggled, that I didn't know about. There are also some scenes (like the opening one) which are deliver more dramatically and less like an accounting of fact which are very gripping.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Harry Houdini
- 05-15-15
long time Houdini fan
I have been a longstanding Houdini fan. in fact, Houdini is my nick name since childhood. I was so influenced by him that I took up magic. Although I have read countless books on Houdini, I enjoyed this one. I especially like the information about the friendship and later rivalry with Conan Doyle. I also like the detailed explanation on Houdini's demise. People constantly argue that he died performing an illusion, or burst appendix or peritonitis.
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