Please note: In order to keep Hive up to date and provide users with the best features, we are no longer able to fully support Internet Explorer. The site is still available to you, however some sections of the site may appear broken. We would encourage you to move to a more modern browser like Firefox, Edge or Chrome in order to experience the site fully.

Supporting your high street Find out how »
The Century of Deception, EPUB eBook

The Century of Deception EPUB

EPUB

Download - Immediately Available
Please note: eBooks can only be purchased with a UK issued credit card and all our eBooks (ePub and PDF) are DRM protected.

Description

'Utter joy! A delicious romp through the heyday of balderdash and grand-scale deception, penned by one of the country's finest magical minds.' Derren BrownIn 1749, a newspaper advertisement appeared declaring that a man would climb inside a bottle on the stage of a London theatre.

Although the crowds turned up in their hundreds to witness the trick, the performer didn't.

Over the following decades, elaborate pranks would continue to bamboozle audiences across England. In The Century of Deception, magician and magic historian Ian Keable tells the engrossing stories of these eighteenth-century hoaxes and those who were duped by them.

The English public were hoodwinked time and time again, swallowing whole tales of rapping ghosts, a woman who gave birth to rabbits, a levitating Frenchman in a Chinese Temple and outrageous astrological predictions.

Not only were the hoaxes widely influential, drawing in celebrities such as Samuel Johnson, Benjamin Franklin and Jonathan Swift, they also inflamed concerns about 'English credulity'. 'Fake news' and 'going viral' may be modern terms, but as this entertaining, eye-opening book shows, these concepts have been with us for centuries. 'A fascinating, witty and beautifully-written book.' Matt Lucas'Ian Keable's brilliant book has opened my eyes to an incredible world of hoaxers and deceivers that I didn't know even existed.

A cracking read filled with extraordinary stories.' Andy Nyman'A masterful and fascinating journey into a hitherto hidden world of history, mystery and hoaxes.' Richard Wiseman

Information

Other Formats

Save 20%

£14.99

£11.99

Download - Immediately Available
Add to Basket
Sign in to add to wishlist
 
Delivered to your inbox

to transfer to your device

eBook Help

Is this the right eBook for
my device? How do I download
this eBook? See help and FAQs pages

Information