Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This book makes fascinating reading.It's mainly done in an encyclopedia style, with entries for many, many people who chose to exhibit their unusual features or talents.The author obviously feel strongly that they have a right to do so, and shows much caring and respect for them.I really liked how he followed their lives all the way through if he could find the information, so they were presented as people and not just shows.
However, I would have really liked a little more context with the listing---more information about sideshows in general and more perspective on the listings.I did like the sidebars here and there, but it would have been great to read more about life in general for all the performers--what it was like to travel with a sideshow, what the people watching the shows acted like, etc.
I also found the humor inserted in almost every listing a little forced, and not in keeping with the general respectful tone of the book.There were lots of little puns and silly jokes, which didn't add much and were a distraction.
I found the last section of the book, about present day shows and performers, to not really fit with the rest of the book.These performers almost all just do odd and bizarre things, as opposed to having odd and bizarre things thrust upon them.I think it's a very different thing to CHOOSE to be odd and bizarre as opposed to making the best of a life where you already are.
It sounds like I liked this book much less than I did.I really did find it an interesting and caring survey of a group of people political correctness often prefers not to talk about.It's ironic that this same attitude probably keeps many people on public assistance, instead of making them extremely rich as many of these performers became!
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Product Description:
A fascinating look into the history of the American sideshow and its performers. Learn what's real, what's fake, and what's just downright bizarre.
You've probably heard of Tom Thumb. The Elephant Man. Perhaps even Chang and Eng, the original Siamese twins. But what about Eli Bowen, the legless acrobat? Or Prince Randian, the human torso? These were just a few of the many stars that shone during the heyday of the American sideshow, from 1840 to 1950. American Sideshow chronicles the lives of truly amazing performers, examining these brave and extraordinary curiosities not just as sideshow performers but as people, delving into the lives they led and the ways they were able to triumph over and even benefit from their abnormalities.
American Sideshow discusses the rise and fall of the original sideshows and their subsequent replacement by today's self-made freaks. With the progress of modern medicine, technological advancements, and the wonderful world of body modification, abnormalities are being overcome, treated and even prevented: Siamese twins can now be separated, and in addition to this, tongues can be forked, horns surgically implanted, and earlobes removed. There are also, of course, modern-day giants, fire eaters, sword swallowers, glass eaters, human blockheads, and oh, so much more.
These fascinating personalities are celebrated through intimate biographies paired with stunning photographs. Approximately two hundred performers from the past one hundred and sixty years are featured, giving readers a comprehensive and sometimes astonishing look into the history of the American sideshow
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