Hiding the Elephant

This is a history, primarily of Victorian era magicians, of stage magic. The book does reveal secrets, but is mostly centered around the lives of the magicians.

The author is very critical of some magicians, especially Houdini. He describes Houdini as a great escape artist but a terrible stage magician. The "Hiding the Elephant" trick is Houdini's greatest stage magic, but the author is unrelenting of his criticism of Houdini.

The book is well researched and will give the reader a feel for what life was like for stage magicians between the 1850's through 1940's. It also shows how the various illusions evolved and kept returning in slightly different guises.

There is an underlying thread (Disappearing Donkey) that is resolved at the books end (I won't give it away).

Although I'm not a big fan of stage magic (sorry Randi), but it was an enjoyable read for both describing the history and mechanics of the most popular tricks that we have come to love over the last 150 years.