Houdini jumps from Harvard Bridge

When I was a kid, I bought a beat up, pulp biography of Harry Houdini at a thrift store. It detailed his young life, his longing to become a magician, his marriage, some of his secrets. I pored over that book, read it ragged. Later, in my 20s, my mom picked up my copy and asked where I'd found "her" book - she'd had a copy herself and loved it like I did. What was it we were drawn to? The escapes? The danger? Me, I liked knowing just enough to wonder how everything else worked.

Boston, Massachusetts
1908
from the American Memory Project