The Vatican to Vegas: The History of Special Effects

I am shocked at the ignorance of the last reviewer. Norman Klein is one of the finest literary stylists in the English-speaking world. He is a novelist as well as a critic. I have followed his work carefully for many years. Probably no one but he could have delivered this level of scholarship in the spirit of a novel, with ironic essays woven even into the footnotes, with a structure that says the book itself is a Renaissance... Read Full Review

Belles Lettres as they too rarely come. Vatican to Vegas is like a key to the secret history of our times. Klein is proving himself one of our finest, most demanding, readable and original writers. As a historian and cultural critic, Klein stands alone in his ability and will to cross academic categorizations. While his first two books constitute masterpieces within relatively close-focussed historical genres, Vatican... Read Full Review

Not only students and scholars of the history of art, architecture, film, animation, western culture can rejoice at the publication of Norman Klein's epic and illuminating history of special effects illusionism, from the 17th century to the present. This book also promises delight to the common reader interested and engaged with the peculiar culture our times. As spectacle morphs to ever stranger forms, Klein offers an invaluable... Read Full Review