TY  - BOOK
N2  - From 1840 until 1940, freak shows by the hundreds crisscrossed the United States. 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 specimens. -- From publisher's description
AB  - From 1840 until 1940, freak shows by the hundreds crisscrossed the United States. 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 specimens. -- From publisher's description
T1  - Freak show :presenting human oddities for amusement and profit /
DA  - ©1988.
CY  - Chicago :
AU  - Bogdan, Robert.
CN  - GV1835
PB  - University of Chicago Press,
PP  - Chicago :
PY  - ©1988.
ID  - 1474641
KW  - Carnivals
KW  - Abnormalities, Human.
KW  - Freak shows
KW  - Congenital Abnormalities
KW  - Fêtes foraines
KW  - Exhibitions de monstres
KW  - Malformations.
KW  - 08.36 philosophical anthropology, philosophy of psychology.
KW  - Abnormalities, Human.
KW  - Carnivals.
KW  - Freak shows.
KW  - Kuriosität
KW  - Missbildung
KW  - Showbusiness
KW  - Misvormden.
KW  - Exotisme.
KW  - Het vreemde.
KW  - Amusementskunst.
KW  - Carnivals
KW  - Abnormalities, Human.
KW  - Freak shows
KW  - Geschichte (1840-1940)
SN  - 0226063119
SN  - 9780226063119
SN  - 0226063127
SN  - 9780226063126
TI  - Freak show :presenting human oddities for amusement and profit /
ER  -