Freak show : presenting human oddities for amusement and profit / Robert Bogdan.

0226063119
9780226063119
0226063127
9780226063126

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, ©1988.

English

xiii, 322 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

GV1835 .B64 1988

791/.1

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

Includes bibliographical references (pages 301-314) and index.

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