Includes bibliographical references and index.

"In Wonder Shows, Fred Nadis offers a colorful history of 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. ... 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."--Jacket.

Imagine a man on a stage catching bullets with his teeth, or an evangelist shooting bolts of lightning through his fingertips. These and other wild sights were part of the repertoire of traveling showmen who blended science with magic. In this book, Fred Nadis offers a colorful history of magicians, inventors, popular science lecturers, and other presenters of "miracle science" who inspired awe in the public. The book provides an innovative synthesis of this history with a wider study of American culture, science, and religion. It features a lively cast of characters, including electrical "wizards" Tesla and Edison, vaudeville performers such as Houdini, mind readers, UFO cultists, and practitioners of New Age science. All of them developed strategies for invoking cultural authority to back their visions of progress. The pseudoscience in their wonder shows helped promote a romantic worldview that called into question the authority of materialism while reaffirming the importance of spirituality. Nadis argues that the sensation that they provided became an antidote to the alienation and dehumanization of modern America. Although most defenders of science might consider wonder an ally of ignorance and superstition, Nadis demonstrates that the public's passion for magic and meaning is still very much alive. Sales continue to be made and allegiances won based on illusions that products are unique or even miraculous.--From publisher description.

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