Barnum: An American Life

Barnum: An American Life

â€œRobert Wilsonâ€™s Barnum, the first full-dress biography in twenty years, eschews clichÃ©s for a more nuanced storyâ€¦It is a life for our times, and the biography Barnum deserves.â€ â€”The Wall Street Journal

P.T. Barnum is the greatest showman the world has ever seen. As a creator of the Barnum & Baily Circus and a champion of wonder, joy, trickery, and â€œhumbug,â€ he was the founding father of American entertainmentâ€”and as Robert Wilson argues, one of the most important figures in American history.

Nearly 125 years after his death, the name P.T. Barnum still inspires wonder. Robert Wilsonâ€™s vivid new biography captures the full genius, infamy, and allure of the ebullient showman, who, from birth to death, repeatedly reinvented himself. He learned as a young man how to wow crowds, and built a fortune that placed him among the first millionaires in the United States. He also suffered tragedy, bankruptcy, and fires that destroyed his lifeâ€™s work, yet willed himself to recover and succeed again. As an entertainer, Barnum courted controversy throughout his lifeâ€”yet he was also a man of strong convictions, guided in his work not by a desire to deceive, but an eagerness to thrill and bring joy to his audiences. He almost certainly never uttered the infamous line, â€œThereâ€™s a sucker born every minute,â€ instead taking pride in giving crowds their moneyâ€™s worth and more.

Robert Wilson, editor of The American Scholar, tells a gripping story in Barnum, one thatâ€™s imbued with the same buoyant spirit as the man himself. In this â€œengaging, insightful, and richly researched new biographyâ€ (New York Journal of Books), Wilson adeptly makes the case for P.T. Barnumâ€™s place among the icons of American history, as a figure who represented, and indeed created, a distinctly American sense of optimism, industriousness, humor, and relentless energy.
Country USA
Brand Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer Simon & Schuster
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2019-08-06
UnitCount 1
Format Deckle Edge
EANs 9781501118623

Country	USA
Brand	Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer	Simon & Schuster
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2019-08-06
UnitCount	1
Format	Deckle Edge
EANs	9781501118623

Barnum: An American Life

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