Magic Is Dead: My Journey into the World's Most Secretive Society of Magicians

by Ian Frisch

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Author: Ian Frisch

Publisher: Dey Street Books

Paperback:
ISBN 10: 0062839292
ISBN 13: 978-0062839299

Hardcover:
ISBN 10: 0062839284
ISBN 13: 978-0062839282

In the vein of Neil Strauss’ The Game and Joshua Foer’s Moonwalking with Einstein comes the fascinating story of one man’s colorful, mysterious, and personal journey into the world of magic, and his unlikely invitation into an underground secret society of revolutionary magicians from around the world.

Magic Is Dead is Ian Frisch’s head-first dive into a hidden world full of extraordinary characters and highly guarded secrets. It is a story of imagination, deception, and art that spotlights today’s most brilliant young magicians—a mysterious club known as the52, who are revolutionizing an ancient artform under the mantra Magic Is Dead.

Ian brings us with him as he not only gets to know this fascinating world, but also becomes an integral part of it. We meet the52’s founding members—Laura London, Daniel Madison, and Chris Ramsay—and explore their personal demons, professional aspirations, and what drew them to their craft. We join them at private gatherings of the most extraordinary magicians working today, follow them to magic conventions in Las Vegas and England, and discover some of the best tricks of the trade. We also encounter David Blaine; hang out with Penn Jillette; meet Dynamo, the U.K.’s most famous magician; and go behind the scenes of a Netflix magic show. Magic Is Dead is also a chronicle of magic’s rich history and how it has changed in the internet age, as the young guns embrace social media and move away from the old-school take on the craft.

As he tells the story of the52, and his role as its most unlikely member, Ian reveals his own connection with trickery and deceit and how he first learned the elements that make magic work from his poker-playing mother. He recalls their adventures in card rooms and casinos after his father’s sudden death, and shares a touching moment that he had, as a working journalist, with his childhood idol Shaquille O’Neal.

“Magic—the romanticism of the inexplicable, the awe and admiration of the unexpected—is an underlying force in how we view the world and its myriad possibilities,” Ian writes. As his journey continues, Ian not only becomes a performer and creator of magic—even fooling the late Anthony Bourdain during a chance encounter—he also cements a new brotherhood, and begins to understand his relationship with his father, fifteen years after his death. Written with psychological acuity and a keen eye for detail, Magic Is Dead is an engrossing tale full of wonder and surprise.

Review

“Magic Is Dead is itself a magic trick: unexpected, mesmerizing, smoothly executed, and—above all—fun. With verve and wit, Ian Frisch infiltrates a mysterious world with a vibrant cast of characters (I’m looking at you, Laura London), and explores the powerful nature of secrets—and why it’s sometimes best to keep them.” (Karen Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy)

“Frisch’s enthusiastic deep dive into the world of magic is infectious enough that it just might send readers to the stores for their own magic sets.” (Publishers Weekly)

From the Back Cover

Have you heard?

Magic . . . is dead

Ian Frisch was dead broke. Hustling to make a name for himself as a journalist, feverishly pitching ideas while squatting in a New Hampshire office building, he needed a story that was going to take his career to a new level. He also needed a confidence boost. When he landed on the Instagram page of Chris Ramsay, he believed he had found what he was looking for. But what began as a profile of a magician using the internet to cultivate his fan base, quickly became a ride through underground magic, one that ripped open Frisch’s life in the process.

“Magic Is Dead” is the mantra of a secret society of magicians, of which Ramsay is a member. They call themselves the52. A family of misfits bonded by troubled pasts and a passion for illusion, mystery, and casting aside the tired clichés of magic that are so prevalent, the52 has two goals—to keep their qualifications for membership in the shadows, and to transform the art form that the members revere. With Ramsay as his guide, Ian attends private gatherings; meets the masters in the field like Penn Jillette, Dynamo, and David Blaine; and is invited into the inner sanctum of a world he never knew existed. Forming close bonds with the founders, Laura London and Daniel Madison, he is welcomed into the group, if puzzled as to why. And when he is invited to become the most unlikely member, his initial goal of writing a great story is replaced by something far more personal.

Rich with the history of magic from the very dawn of the art form, full of details about the business of making magic today, and populated with a cast of characters—both well known and unknown—that comes alive on the page, Magic Is Dead is a page-turning and often surprising work of immersive journalism. But coupled with this is a deeply personal story of a young man searching for himself.

From the dark alleys of Blackpool, England, to the glitz of Las Vegas to the back lots of Hollywood where magic is being crafted, here is a portrait of the past, present, and future of magic. Written with psychological acuity and a keen eye for detail, Magic Is Dead is an engrossing tale that will keep you guessing until the very end.

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Magic Is Dead: My Journey into the World's Most Secretive Society of Magicians