Books like Sideshow U.S.A by Rachel Adams

A pioneering critical work that examines how physical disability is coded in literature and culture, treating disability as a socially constructed minority discourse rather than a medical condition.

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 bizarreA 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

Reiss examines P. T. Barnum’s 19th‑century exhibit of the supposedly 161‑year‑old enslaved woman Joice Heth, using her life and death to explore race relations, performance, and the spectacle of death in ante‑bellum America.

A critique of consumer culture through essays on corporations, marketing, and popular culture in America's 1990s and 2000s.

An informal and personal description of the rise and fall of comic books in the '40s and '50s, with a focus on the Educational Comics (E.C.) company run by Gains, father then son (M.C. then William). The fall came in two steps, the first in the '40s and aimed at crime comics, and the second in the '50s and aimed at almost all comics, but with emphasis on horror comics.