Hou is Harry Houdini?
As we have been reading through Ragtime and discussing the novel, I have developed a particular interest in Harry Houdini. As members of the 21st Century, we are still fascinated by the idea of magic and defying reality - horror movies, virtual video games, and even simple card or object tricks all continue to keep us on the edge of our seats because of their various effects of tricking our brains and tapping into illusions. As children, we have grown up knowing the name “Harry Houdini” and recognizing him as a really good magician/escape artist. However, every person is more than just a name with a label. Who really was Harry Houdini, and for our purposes, how true-to-life is Doctorow’s depiction of him? To try to answer this question, I started researching (shoutout to Gale and Credo) Harry Houdini. More accurately, I learned about Erich Weiss (real name indeed is mentioned on page 35 of the novel), born in Budapest on March 25, 1874, and immigrated to the US with his poor fami...