Linking Rings: William W. Durbin and the Magic and Mystery of AmericaKent State University Press, 2004 - 315 pages "So how to tell of the life of a magician whose vocation was politics? A simple biography was out of the question. All of the hard research led to an idea. Why not travel back in time for one night to meet the old wizard himself in a car ride that actually did take place at the end of his life? Once there, he could tell his story directly to one of his descendants--a transference of family memories that just may have had national significance. Surely a magician could accomplish such a meeting." --from the Preface David Copperfield had this to say about Linking Rings. William W. Durbin, businessman, political activist, and professional magician, was a major figure in Ohio politics during the first half of the twentieth century, serving as the powerful head of the Ohio Democratic Party and as a senior official in the U.S. Treasury under Franklin D. Roosevelt. Durbin's story is that of a political maverick who knew how to manipulate behind-the-scenes activities, especially in Ohio's political arena. He was instrumental in William Jennings Bryan's near-defeat of William McKinley in Ohio, and two decades later he helped Woodrow Wilson reach the White House. Although Durbin's vocation was politics, his passion was magic. One of the nation's premier magicians, who performed on stage as "The Past Master of the Black Art," he was the first elected president of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, a professional organization that has grown since its first convention in Kenton, Ohio, in 1926 to number more than 15,000 members today. Imaginatively told and thoroughly researched, Linking Rings is an engaging biography narrated by James D. Robenalt, Durbin's great-grandson, who places himself with Durbin in a long car ride back to Ohio from Washington, D.C., in February 1937. Fans of magic and those interested in political history will find Linking Rings an engrossing read. |
From inside the book
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... cause , is stronger than all the hosts of error . I come to speak to you in defense of a cause as holy as the cause of liberty the cause of humanity . " Bryan has hit the chord , that mystic chord of memory that binds the nation to its ...
... cause , Wilson grew up under his strict and scholarly direction . His father had caustic wit and his mother a ... caused a stroke as he traveled across the Great Plains in a train in 1919 as he took his case on the treaty directly to the ...
... cause hopeless and actually instructed his floor manager to release his delegates . The message was never commu- nicated to the delegates . Slowly , monotonously , Wilson gained strength . Fi- nally , on the forty - sixth ballot at 3:30 ...
Contents
And Things Are Not What They Seem | 1 |
Tim Kelly Will Not Soon Be Forgotten | 18 |
The Doctor | 35 |
Copyright | |
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