A highly readable work of social history that, courtesy of Harry Houdini, takes us into odd realms indeed.
A lively history of those who would call up the dead.
Like later magician James Randi, the renowned escape artist known as “the Amazing Randi,” Harry Houdini devoted much of his later life to combatting “spiritualism,” much in vogue then as now. “This thing they call ‘Spiritualism,’” Houdini testified before a congressional committee, “wherein a medium inter-communicates with the dead, is a fraud from start to finish.” That the matter should have wound up before a panel of legislators wasn’t so strange: Houdini argued that spiritualism was the province of bunko artists, and, pressing for a law to forbid its practice, he claimed to have had numerous mediums arrested for committing fraud. Against him, however, were arrayed some formidable opponents, including one medium who argued that any suppression of spiritualism represented an assault on the free practice of religion. Interestingly, as Ricca (Mrs. Sherlock Holmes) writes, there was another political dimension to spiritualism: Claims were widespread that Abraham Lincoln himself was a believer, and even as Houdini was testifying, both President Calvin Coolidge and a number of sitting members of Congress were alleged to have consulted mediums and attended séances. So, too, did Houdini himself—research yielded a curse from a supposed dead man that the magician would soon die, as indeed happened. Still another odd dimension that Ricca explores are the spiritualist connections of presidential assassins John Wilkes Booth, Charles Guiteau, and Leon Czolgosz; an early conspiracy theory surrounded the first, claiming that he escaped capture and execution and lived out a long life in the West. Some of Ricca’s sidelights are a touch odd, particularly his musings on hermaphroditism (though they’re not entirely out of place). Still, his broad-ranging research is impressive, and his narrative flows smoothly and often entertainingly.
A highly readable work of social history that, courtesy of Harry Houdini, takes us into odd realms indeed.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781250338907
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
