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From 1840 until 1940, freak shows by the hundreds crisscrossed the United States, from the smallest towns to the largest cities, exhibiting their casts of dwarfs, giants, Siamese twins, bearded ladies, savages, snake charmers, fire eaters, and other oddities. By today's standards such displays would be considered cruel and exploitative—the pornography of disability. Yet for one hundred years the freak show was widely accepted as one of America's most popular forms of entertainment.
Robert Bogdan's fascinating social history brings to life the world of the freak show and explores the culture that nurtured and, later, abandoned it. In uncovering this neglected chapter of show business, he describes in detail the flimflam artistry behind the shows, the promoters and the audiences, and the gradual evolution of public opinion from awe to embarrassment. Freaks were not born, Bogdan reveals; they were manufactured by the amusement world, usually with the active participation of the freaks themselves. Many of the "human curiosities" found fame and fortune, becoming the celebrities of their time, until the ascent of professional medicine transformed them from marvels into pathological specimans.
Robert Bogdan's fascinating social history brings to life the world of the freak show and explores the culture that nurtured and, later, abandoned it. In uncovering this neglected chapter of show business, he describes in detail the flimflam artistry behind the shows, the promoters and the audiences, and the gradual evolution of public opinion from awe to embarrassment. Freaks were not born, Bogdan reveals; they were manufactured by the amusement world, usually with the active participation of the freaks themselves. Many of the "human curiosities" found fame and fortune, becoming the celebrities of their time, until the ascent of professional medicine transformed them from marvels into pathological specimans.
About the Author
Robert Bogdan is professor of special education, cultural foundations of education, and sociology at Syracuse University.
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First Sentence:
OTIS JORDAN, a man with poorly functioning and underformed limbs who is better known in the carnival world as "Otis the Frog Man," was banned in 1984 from appearing as part of the Sutton Sideshow at the New York State Fair. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
high aggrandized mode, freak portraits, freak show platform, popular amusement industry, aggrandized exhibits, amusement organizations, presenting freaks, freak show world, aggrandized modes, exotic mode, skeleton dude, freak exhibits, exhibiting people, freak show attractions, exotic presentation, freak show exhibits, ossified man, amusement world, freak attractions, human ostrich, human oddities, sideshow exhibits, dime museums, born freaks, tattooed people Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Tom Thumb, Becker Coll, Coney Island, American Museum, Syracuse University, Henry Johnson, Hilton Sisters, Charles Stratton, Lavinia Warren, Charles Eisenmann, Robert Wadlow, Mary Hilton, Civil War, Eli Bowen, Madison Square Garden, Wild Australian Children, Mathew Brady, Midway Plaisance, Nate Eagle, Charles Tripp, Clyde Ingalls, Frank Wendt, Hertzberg Coll, Jack Earle New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
OTIS JORDAN, a man with poorly functioning and underformed limbs who is better known in the carnival world as "Otis the Frog Man," was banned in 1984 from appearing as part of the Sutton Sideshow at the New York State Fair. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
high aggrandized mode, freak portraits, freak show platform, popular amusement industry, aggrandized exhibits, amusement organizations, presenting freaks, freak show world, aggrandized modes, exotic mode, skeleton dude, freak exhibits, exhibiting people, freak show attractions, exotic presentation, freak show exhibits, ossified man, amusement world, freak attractions, human ostrich, human oddities, sideshow exhibits, dime museums, born freaks, tattooed people Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Tom Thumb, Becker Coll, Coney Island, American Museum, Syracuse University, Henry Johnson, Hilton Sisters, Charles Stratton, Lavinia Warren, Charles Eisenmann, Robert Wadlow, Mary Hilton, Civil War, Eli Bowen, Madison Square Garden, Wild Australian Children, Mathew Brady, Midway Plaisance, Nate Eagle, Charles Tripp, Clyde Ingalls, Frank Wendt, Hertzberg Coll, Jack Earle New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 26
books:
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77
books
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- Diane Arbus by Patricia Bosworth on page 1, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Descent of Man (Great Minds Series) by Charles Darwin on page 136, and page 249
- The Descent of Man (Penguin Classics) by Charles Darwin on page 136, and page 249
- On the Origin of Species (Penguin Classics) by Charles Darwin on page 249
- Popular Culture (The Great Contemporary Issues) by David Manning White in Back Matter
See all 26 books this book cites
- The Genuine Article: Race, Mass Culture, and American Literary Manhood (New Americanists) by Paul Gilmore in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Extraordinary Bodies by Professor Rosemarie Garland Thomson on page 139, and Back Matter
- Playing Dolly: Technocultural Formations, Fantasies, and Fictions of Assisted Reproduction (Millennial Shifts) by E. Ann Kaplan on page 184, and Back Matter
- Beyond the Binary: Reconstructing Cultural Identity in a Multicultural Context by Timothy B. Powell on page 37, and page 102
- The Custom of the Sea: A Shocking True Tale of Shipwreck, Murder, and the Last Taboo by Neil Hanson in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 77 books citing this book
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