For a brief period from the late 19th century to the early 20th, stage magicians were the 'rock stars' of their day. Howard Thurston rose from humble beginnings (which he later sought to hide) to become one of the most famous in the profession.
This book is a pretty straight forward biography of the man in question, focussing mainly on his professional career and turbulent personal life. Steinmeyer already wrote an excellent book on how the tricks were done ("Hiding The Elephant", which I own, but have no idea where I've put..) so he doesn't really dwell too much on that angle, alas. Thurston invented the style that comes to mind when we think of stage magicians, but became, in time, overlooked. The Houdini rivalry mentioned on the cover and blurb really comes to nothing, they were, despite some clashes, friends until the end...another example of Houdini taking the limelight still.
Overall a great read but probably not if you have no interest in the subject.
