P. T. Barnum: America's Greatest Showman

This excellent book was published as an accompanment to the 3-Hour Discovery Channel Documentary on P.T.Barnam;and what a magnificent book it is.Top quality in every aspect,with over 500 photographs,illustrations and color lithographs and 358 pages.It is not simply a collection of photos,which it is,but it is also a detailed text covering every aspect of the long and accomplished life of one of America's greatest personalities. Everyone,upon hearing of Barnum,immediately associates him with Bailey and the famous Barnum and Bailey Circus.However;Barnum was much greater than that.He was born in 1810,and most of his adult life was spent in developing The american Museum in New York.He was fascinated with the strange and oddities of the world and travelled widely to bring the best of things to be found,back to his museum to put on display for everyone to see,enjoy and be amazed with. Through hard work and adversity,in 1865 and at the age of 55 Barnum has become wealthy and now has a magnificent museum in New York.Then he is hit with a massive fire,losing it all.It is now the early 1870's and Barnum goes off in a totally different direction,though be it,still show business;he enters the world of the travelling Circus and Side Show.Now in his 60's he teams up with others and particularly Bailey,and creates the great circus for which he is so fondly remembered.. The book is so extremely well researched and written that the reader is taken through such an amazing journey,that it is impossible to put down.Excellent photographs and details of the performers will bring back to life all that the Circus was known for; before the forces of political correctness and other difficulties and advancements in entertainment;made the Circus a thing of the past ..lost but not forgotten..especially when remembered with this great book and Documentry.

The publishers didn't pull a Barnum on the public with this one. They deliver what they promise -- a fascinating, detailed, and engagingly readable biography of the first true showman. Barnum and the people he pulled into his world come alive in these pages. Amply illustrated, often with rare photos, this is a great book for anyone, not just circus buffs.

I have only one thing to say, and it's more of a question than anything else:Why is such a masterpiece (this book), the best of it's kind on one of America's greatest showman, out of print?That's too bad because this has got to be the best book ever written about P.T. Barnum. The authors have done a meticulous job of researching this man's life and work, along with providing hundreds of long-gone pictures and posters covering every inch of Barnum's career. Books of this kind are rare and don't get any better than that!

This book is one of those books that you love to look through, tons of pictures, nicely laid out. And not only is it aesthetically magnificant, but it is quite possibly the most extensive source of information on Barnum available anywhere. It also has a good index and is laid out in a way that makes all of the information easy to get to, without reading millions of pages of stuffy prose.

The publishers didn't pull a Barnum on the public with this one. They deliver what they promise -- a fascinating, detailed, and engagingly readable biography of the first true showman. Amply illustrated, often with rare photos, this is a great book for anyone, not just circus buffs.