Books like P. T. Barnum by Alice Mulcahey Fleming

In the Depression‑era town of Abalone, Arizona, the arrival of Dr. Lao’s circus brings mythical wonders that transform the lives of the residents.

When Grandpa Ephraim shares tales of the enchanted Circus Mirandus, young Micah, with friends Jenny Mendoza and his reluctant Great‑Aunt Gertrudis in tow, sets out to find the famed Man Who Bends Light and the miracle he promises him.

151 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm980L Lexile

With P. T. Barnum: America's Greatest Showman, Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr., Philip B. Kunhardt III, and Peter W. Kunhardt - who were responsible for the best-selling Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography - rediscover the genius and vision of an unmatched impresario and entrepreneur. In vivid words and spellbinding pictures (more than 500 photographs, engravings, and color lithographs from the renowned Meserve Collection and forty other archives), we meet a man of complex motives, a master of merchandise, and inveterate self-promoter often reviled for his opportunism. We meet the man who did not say "There's a sucker born every minute"; whose best friends were clergymen; whose autobiography sold more than a million copies; who took a public leap through a flaming hoop to prove to the ASPCA that his performing horses were in no danger; who (allegedly) plotted with Samuel Clemens to lease a comet's tail to take a million passengers on a guided tour of outer space. We meet the man who built his reputation - and his fortune - largely on the exoticism of others, but whose crowning moment as a member of the Connecticut state legislature came in a speech in favor of the constitutional amendment to abolish slavery: "A human soul is not to be trifled with. It may inhabit the body of a Chinaman, a Turk, an Arab or a Hotentot - it is still an immortal spirit!" . There is no denying Barnum's abiding influence, more than a century after his death, on our popular culture. For better and for worse, we owe America's irrepressible infatuation with show biz largely to him.

Introduces the life and accomplishments of the man who is known as the creator of "the greatest show on Earth."

"For more than fifty years, Phineas T. Barnum embodied all that was grand and fraudulent in American mass culture. Over the course of a life that spanned the nineteenth century (1810-91), he inflicted himself upon a surprisingly willing public in a variety of guises, from newspaper editor (or libeler) to traveling showman (or charlatan) and distinguished public benefactor (or shameless hypocrite).". "Barnum deliberately cultivated his ambiguous public image through a lifelong advertising campaign, shrewdly exploiting the cultural and technological capabilities of the new publishing industry. While running his numerous shows and exhibitions, Barnum managed to publish newspaper articles, exposes of fraud (not his own), self-help tracts, and a series of best-selling autobiographies, each promising to give "the true history of my many adventures."". "Updated editions of The Life of P.T. Barnum appeared regularly, allowing Barnum to keep up with demand and purge the narrative of details that might offend posterity. The present volume is the first modern edition of Barnum's original and outrageous autobiography, published in 1855 and unavailable for more than a century."--BOOK JACKET.