The Nazi Seance: The Strange Story of the Jewish Psychic in Hitler's Circle - Rilegato

Magida, Arthur J.

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0230620531 ISBN 13: 9780230620537

Casa editrice: St Martins Pr, 2011

Riassunto

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 séances, 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 originally from Vienna who became so popular in Berlin that he rubbed elbows with high ranking Nazis, became close with top Storm Troopers, and even advised Hitler.

Called "Europe's Greatest Oracle Since Nostradamus," Hanussen assumed he could manipulate some of the more incendiary personalities of his time just as he had manipulated his fans. He turned 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 Séance 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.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

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

"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 Séance 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

'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

'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

'In this excellent biography of Erik Jan Hanussen, we follow this until recently lesser-known figure, and witness how he convinced large numbers of individuals in Germany and other parts of Cetnral Europe during the '20s and early '30s that he could read minds, foretell the future and perform all sorts of other marvels.' - The Jerusalem Post

 
'Well written and researched, Magida's book provides a fascinating look into one of the Third Reich's most interesting benefactors.
' - George Michael, Fortean Times

Descrizione del libro:

The curious history of a Jewish magician whose greatest trick was to become the personal clairvoyant and close confidant of Adolf Hitler

Su questa edizione

• Editore: St Martins Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0230620531
• ISBN 13: 9780230620537
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 269