On Monday night, the network premiered a two-part special event called Houdini, an Adrien Brody-starring biopic covering the life of one of the greatest magicians of all time.

History Channel wants to change all of that. To be a magician or escape artist in 2014 is a little like being an ice deliveryman a few throwback people might be interested in your services, but the vast majority thinks you're painfully obsolete. America's wonder at stage magic has long been eclipsed by the real-life magic of evermore incredible scientific and technological achievements. In the popular imagination, magicians are almost tragically uncool. Finally, of special interest to many readers are Houdini's own accounts of great magicians of history and of Houdini's own battles with spiritualists and fraudulent mediums.Yep, Harry Potter notwithstanding, an interest in magic remains a go-to signpost in popular culture for someone who is unattractive, lame - basically just a total loser. These are fully-illustrated with diagram sequences that cover every step in the performance. There are also instructions for performing 44 stage tricks, including the coin and glass, the Indian needle trick, and other standards. This book is Houdini's own account of these exploits, supplemented with rare photographs and posters, first-hand material from periodicals and pamphlets, and behind-the-scenes revelations of some of the master's most prized secrets: how he picked locks, how he sawed a girl in half to become twins, how he walked through a brick wall, how a girl can vanish from a sheet of plate glass without trapdoors, hoists, mirrors or other such apparatus.

Houdini permitted himself to be thrown, manacled, into the Hudson River to be nailed into packing cases and lowered into the ocean to be suspended by the ankles, strait-jacketed, hundreds of feet above the ground-and in every case, he escaped easily. Many of his fabulous escapes, indeed, now sound more like legend than history, yet they really happened! Harry Houdini's fame is secure as the greatest magician of modern times.

The amazing harry houdini