Max Malini King of Magicians Magician of Kings by Steve Cohen

Max Malini circled the globe eight times, enthralling kings and emperors, czars and presidents. After a private show at the White House, Theodore Roosevelt said, “A remarkable young man and a remarkable performance.”

His techniques, tricks, boldness, and character have become the stuff of legend, inspiring no less than Dai Vernon and Ricky Jay to follow in his footsteps.

Yet for a magician revered by so many, there is scant Malini material in print. Until now.

Through the pages of Max Malini: King of Magicians, Magician of Kings Steve Cohen – star of New York’s hit show Chamber Magic – details a wealth of never-before-revealed information, both instructional and historical.

From the methods behind Malini’s famous Block of Ice Production and Blindfolded Card Stab, to the techniques he used for card control, forcing, and palming, as well as a lengthy discussion of the Malini Egg Bag and the Button Biting stunt that made him famous, this new work is a virtual tell-all how-to tome.

But the book explains far more than the mechanics of Malini’s magic. It gives new insight into his presentations, his personality, and explains how these factors made him famous.

Further complementing the instructional text is the most extensive and revealing look at Malini’s life published to date. Cohen’s meticulous research uncovered dozens of unknown stories and photos that reveal the breadth of Malini’s role in early twentieth-century magic.

Woven into his life story are accounts of his performances in India, South America, and Australia (where Malini was suspected to be a wartime spy), “tales of boldness,” as well as chronicles of many of the famous instances of chutzpah – both in performance and everyday life – that made Malini truly extraordinary, and helped him become a genuine legend.