LEADER 04175nam 2200613 a 450 001 9910828268103321 005 20240515210819.0 010 $a0-8135-4121-2 024 7 $a10.36019/9780813541211 035 $a(CKB)1000000000468114 035 $a(OCoLC)182530307 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebrary10150136 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3032148 035 $a(DE-B1597)529136 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780813541211 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3032148 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10150136 035 $a(EXLCZ)991000000000468114 100 $a20040413d2005 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcn||||||||| 181 $ctxt$2rdacontent 182 $cc$2rdamedia 183 $acr$2rdacarrier 200 10$aWonder shows $eperforming science, magic, and religion in America /$fFred Nadis 205 $a1st ed. 210 $aNew Brunswick, N.J. $cRutgers University Press$dc2005 215 $a1 online resource (xiv, 318 pages) 311 0 $a0-8135-3515-8 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $tFront matter --$tContents --$tAcknowledgments --$tPreface --$tPart I: Electric Wonders --$tPart II: Mystic Vaudeville --$tPart III: Millennial Wonders --$tBibliographical Essay --$tNotes --$tIndex --$tABOUT THE AUTHOR 330 $aImagine a stage full of black cats emitting electrical sparks, a man catching bullets with his teeth, or an evangelist jumping on a transformer to shoot bolts of lightning through his fingertips. These and other wild schemes were part of the repertoire of showmen who traveled from city to city, making presentations that blended science with myth and magic. In Wonder Shows, Fred Nadis offers a colorful history of these traveling magicians, inventors, popular science lecturers, and other presenters of ?miracle science? who revealed science and technology to the public in awe-inspiring fashion. The book provides an innovative synthesis of the history of performance with a wider study of culture, science, and religion from the antebellum period to the present. It features a lively cast of characters, including electrical ?wizards? Nikola Tesla and Thomas Alva Edison, vaudeville performers such as Harry Houdini, mind readers, UFO cultists, and practitioners of New Age science. All of these performers developed strategies for invoking cultural authority to back their visions of science and progress. The pseudo-science in their wonder shows helped promote a romantic worldview that called into question the absolute authority of scientific materialism while reaffirming the importance of human spirituality. Nadis argues that the sensation that these entertainers provided became an antidote to the alienation and dehumanization that accompanied the rise of modern America. Although most recent defenders of science are prone to reject wonder, considering it an ally of ignorance and superstition, Wonder Shows demonstrates that the public?s passion for magic and meaning is still very much alive. Today, sales continue to be made and allegiances won based on illusions that products are unique, singular, and at best, miraculous. Nadis establishes that contemporary showmen, corporate publicists, advertisers, and popular science lecturers are not that unlike the magicians and mesmerists of years ago. 606 $aScience news$zUnited States$xHistory$y19th century 606 $aScience news$zUnited States$xHistory$y20th century 606 $aMagic shows$zUnited States$xHistory$y19th century 606 $aMagic shows$zUnited States$xHistory$y20th century 606 $aRevivals$zUnited States$xHistory$y19th century 606 $aRevivals$zUnited States$xHistory$y20th century 615 0$aScience news$xHistory 615 0$aScience news$xHistory 615 0$aMagic shows$xHistory 615 0$aMagic shows$xHistory 615 0$aRevivals$xHistory 615 0$aRevivals$xHistory 676 $a791.1 686 $aTB 2380$2rvk 700 $aNadis$b Fred$f1957-$01161066 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910828268103321 996 $aWonder shows$92709520 997 $aUNINA