The Secret Life of Uri Geller: CIA Masterspy? to be published in North America on October 15th
NEW YORK, July 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Watkins Publishing has signed an authorized biography of Uri Geller which will tell his life story and explore recent claims made about his clandestine work with the CIA and the Israeli intelligence agency, the Mossad, during and after the Cold War.
Journalist and biographer, Jonathan Margolis, is working with Geller and filmmaker Vikram Jayanti to complete the manuscript, which is scheduled to be finished on August 9th.
In June, Jayanti debuted a documentary at the Sheffield (UK) Film Festival entitled, The Secret Life of Uri Geller: Psychic Spy? Jayanti is the Oscar-winning producer of the Muhammad Ali documentary, When We Were Kings.
Throughout his career, Uri Geller has courted controversy. To many in the general public, he is an entertainer, a crackpot, or Hollywood hanger-on. He made millions in showbiz and as a psychic advisor to the oil industry, but was humiliated in his appearance on 'The Tonight Show' with Johnny Carson. He was good buddies with mega-star, Michael Jackson, but has been plagued by skeptics who have sought to debunk his paranormal abilities.
And yet, on Uri Geller's website, there is a photograph from 1987 of Geller together with Al Gore, Yuli M. Vorontsov, First Deputy Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union, Anthony Lake, the then National Security advisor, later the head of the CIA, and Senator Claiborne Pell, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The photo was printed in US News & World Report in a piece they did on the ongoing peace talks between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. What was Geller doing in that picture? Margolis brings proof that Uri Geller was there to bombard Vorontsov 's mind with peaceful thoughts and brainwash him into signing the treaty.
The biography will be released by Watkins as an ebook on August 22nd and in print on October 15th.
Michael Mann, publisher at large for Watkins, said: "Uri is world-famous for mind reading and spoon bending but his work with the CIA and Mossad during the 60s and 70s as well as in post 9/11 times has until now remained secret. The Secret Life of Uri Geller tells the real story of his extraordinary life and his undercover work for the world's most famous spy agencies. These new allegations of CIA-sponsored mind-reading come at a point when fears about government surveillance programs have been heightened due to the leaking of NSA documents by Edward Snowden."
Jonathan Margolis, Uri Geller, and Oscar-winning filmmaker Vikram Jayanti are available for interview upon request.
About the author
Jonathan Margolis is the author of several previous biographies, including Uri Geller: Magician or Mystic? and has written for Time, The Financial Times, and The Guardian.
Contact: John Tintera via email or mobile: (908) 265-6148.