{"product_id":"9781101545768","title":"The Extraordinary Catalog of Peculiar Inventions: The Curious World of the Demoulin Brothers and Their Fraternal Lodge Prank Machines - from Human Centipedes and Revolving Goats to ElectricCarpets and SmokingCa","description":"\"\u003ci\u003eThis stuff is more than just fancy pranks. It's Americana. Never  has  nonsense been taken so seriously...This book is a fascinating, appetite- whetting  glimpse for the, if you'll pardon the expression, uninitiated.\u003c\/i\u003e\"\u003cbr\u003e-David Copperfield, from the foreword\u003cp\u003eAt the beginning of the twentieth century, 40 percent of American men  belonged to a lodge, and they were hazing their newbies with cigar- smoking  camels, spankers, and even fake guillotines. Nearly all their prank  devices came  from the same place: catalogs published by the DeMoulin Brothers Company  from  1896 to 1930.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJulia Suits discovered one of these all-but-forgotten catalogs at a  flea  market. Its pages were full of bizarre hazing props: old-fashioned  telephones  that squirted water, bucking goats attached to tricycles, Victorian- looking  furniture that sent electric shocks. These prank machines are the relics  of  mischief and daredevilry, produced for the country's original fraternity- hazing  culture, and created by America's original high-tech geeks of the  electric age.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Extraordinary Catalog of Peculiar Inventions\u003c\/i\u003e offers a peek  into  twentieth-century American culture that most people have never seen. At  its core  are hundreds of the most inventive DeMoulin prank machines, complete with  their  original, quirky descriptions and eccentric line art. Alongside the  catalog  pages are newspaper clippings, lodge trivia, quotes, and stories that  show the  true side of America's original hazing culture.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47134043865328,"sku":"9781101545768","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781101545768_p0.jpg?v=1763687397","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781101545768","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}