Dumbstruck: A Cultural History of Ventriloquism
`How the world of mediumistic displays, of possession and exorcism, of glossolalia and witchcraft, led us to Victorian parlour entertainments and then to Toy Story is the absorbing substance of this book.' Economist, December 2000`a genuinely unusual and rich source for the curious ... There is much in this book, much more than the subject matter suggests ... Connor has pulled together an enormous amount of material in the service of a compelling story.' The Linguist List`There is much in this book, much more than the subject matter suggests. Connor has pulled together an enormous amount of material in the service of a compelling story.' The Linguist List`This book is erudite and broad in scope.  Its strength is the way it links cultural phenomena in new ways. ... Connor gives us an intelligent study of a domain of skilful cultural creativity, against a background of several millennia of appalling irrational behaviour.' Raphael Salkie, Times Higher Education Supplement, Friday 16th march 2001`fascinating ... highly recommended, not least for its sheer breadth of scholarship.'  Brian Boyd, Irish Times (Dublin) 13.01.01.`ventriloquism is defined in the largest and most colourful sense.'  Peter Ackroyd, The Times 8/11/00.`this incredibly erudite work ... is easily the best account of the dark business at the roots of the art ... a scholarly but wry style that is a pleasure to read.'  Andrew Martin, New Statesman 11/12/00.'comprehensive history...peppered with shrewd observations' The New York Times Book Review`Connor manages to retain a remarkably even-handed tone as he moves from the Delphic Oracle to the Witch of Endor, Dickens to Beckett, the gramophone to the World Wide Web' TLS`Dumbstruck triumphantly reclaims ventriloquism from the condescension of posterity' TLS