Conjuring Arts and Magic Politics

Is there a hidden kinship between magic and politics as arts of deception and persuasion?

This short and lively book examines the intersection of the art of secular magic with questions of politics and public morality.

From Harry Houdini's opposition to the spiritualism fad at the turn of the twentieth century, to today's mentalists and hypnotists who tread a careful line between magic and 'reality' by deploying genuine psychological effects to creative ends, magicians have found themselves in a unique position to conjure politics in radical and fundamental ways.

With an immediate focus on Europe and America in the 20th and 21st centuries, contextualised within a much broader historical and geographical sweep, the book examines secrecy and exposure, orientalism, sexism and classism and the politics of knowledge around the paranormal.

It features an exclusive interview with magician Derren Brown and includes inset boxes with descriptions of historic 'tricks', performances and personalities.