Show Business: The Magic Boom: New Sorcery
(4 of 4)
Yet, as polished as Henning is, The Magic Show's success lies not with the star but with ourselves. In an epoch of uncertainty, people need a fraud they can believe in. Magic, with its cheerful promise of mountebankery, offers a kind of low comic relief. An audience that is fooled invariably laughs, delighted that its attention has been misdirected. To Magician-Historian Robert Lund, it is "a rebellion against science." To James Randi, it is "a sign that our society is still healthy. When people stop being enthralled by a magician who can make a lady vanish, it will mean that the world has lost its most precious possession: its sense of wonder."
- « PREV PAGE
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Most Popular »
- The '00s: Goodbye (at Last) to the Decade From Hell
- The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting
- Obama's 'Mistakes': Way Too Early to Judge
- How to Get Smarter, One Breath at a Time
- In Italy, A Sex Scandal to Rival Berlusconi's
- Satyam Computer Fraud Grows to $2.5 Billion
- Black Friday
- Workers of the World vs. China Inc.
- The Gospel of Glee: Is It Anti-Christian?
- Pie
- The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting
- The '00s: Goodbye (at Last) to the Decade From Hell
- Is Gene Therapy Finally Ready for Prime Time?
- The Gospel of Glee: Is It Anti-Christian?
- How to Get Smarter, One Breath at a Time
- Workers of the World vs. China Inc.
- In Italy, A Sex Scandal to Rival Berlusconi's
- Obama's 'Mistakes': Way Too Early to Judge
- Dearborn's Muslims Fear a Fort Hood Backlash
- How a Little Town in Peru Is Becoming a Hotspot
Quotes of the Day »
ROBB LEVIN, resident of Fairfax, Virginia, on the $15,000 lawsuit settlement made against Tareq and Michaele Salahi, the White House gate crashers, who are also involved in at least 15 other civil suits
Quotes of the Day »
ROBB LEVIN, resident of Fairfax, Virginia, on the $15,000 lawsuit settlement made against Tareq and Michaele Salahi, the White House gate crashers, who are also involved in at least 15 other civil suits
RSS