Opis: The Nazi Seance - Arthur J. Magida

World War I left Berlin, and all of Germany, devastated.Charlatans and demagogues eagerly exploited the desperate crowds. Fascination with the occult was everywhere - in private seances, personalized psychic readings, communions with the dead - as people struggled to escape the grim reality of their lives. In the early 1930s, the most famous mentalist in the German capital was Erik Jan Hanussen, a Jewish mind reader who became so popular that he rubbed elbows with high ranking Nazis, became close with top Storm Troopers, and even advised Hitler. Assuming he could manipulate the Nazis as he had manipulated his fans, Hanussenturned his occult newspaper in Berlin into a Nazi propaganda paper, personally assured Hitler that the stars were aligned in his favor, and predicted the infamous Reichstag Fire that would solidify the Nazis' grip on Germany. Seasoned with ruminations about wonder and magic (and explanations of Hanussen's tricks), The Nazi Seance is a disturbing journey into a Germany as it descends into madness - aided by a "clairvoyant" Jew oblivious to the savagery of men who pursued a Reich they fantasized would last 1,000 years.

"Hanussen's life is deftly told . . . Magida weaves a fascinating tapestry of 1920s Berlin." -- "The Washington Post"

"An astonishing story, brilliantly told."--Roger Moorhouse, author of "Killing Hitler"

"Magida paints a vivid tale of the era."--"City Paper"

"Hanussen (and his relation to Hitler) is one of the strangest enigmas of the pre-war era. Arthur Magida has done a great service in illuminating this figure of mystery--and the light his story reflects on the growing darkness surrounding him."--Ron Rosenbaum, author of "Explaining Hitler" and "How the End Begins"

"The Nazi Seance is a fascinating journey into the magical thinking of Hitler and his cronies, and the life of a Jewish conjuror who tried -- and failed - the ultimate magic trick: to survive Nazi Germany as one of Hitler's own."--Stephen L. Macknik & Susana Martinez-Conde, authors of "Sleights of Mind: How the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals Our Everyday Deceptions
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"In a history that reads like a novel, Arthur Magida, gives us much more than a finely written researched and well-researched examination of the "Nazi" Jewish psychic."--Lawrence Kushner, author of "Kabbalah: A Love Story
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"Magida's passion illuminates a thoroughly researched and engaging account of a momentous, sinister, and also at times tragicomic episode of German history."--Christopher Sandford, author of "Masters of Mystery: the Strange Friendship of Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini"

"Arthur Magida's haunting and vivid historical portrait illustrates how opportunism and spiritual fashion flourished on the margins of the Third Reich. It is a chilling parable about the ultimate price paid by those who blindly allied themselves with brute power."--Mitch Horowitz, author of "Occult America"

"Magida gets inside the head of the notorious Jewish clairvoyant who helped the Nazis rise to power."--Peter Lamont, author of "The First Psychic"

"Magida's narrative takes on the palpable dread of a thriller . . . "T.

Szczegóły: The Nazi Seance - Arthur J. Magida

Tytuł: The Nazi Seance
Autor: Arthur J. Magida
Producent: Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 9780230342040
Rok produkcji: 2013
Ilość stron: 288
Oprawa: Miękka
Waga: 0.29 kg

Recenzje: The Nazi Seance - Arthur J. Magida