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Barnum : an American life / Robert Wilson.

by Wilson, Robert, 1951 February 21- author.

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New York : Simon & Schuster, 2019.

Barnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor), 1810-1891.

Circus owners -- United States -- Biography.

9781501118623 (hardcover) :

1501118625 (hardcover) :

x, 341 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.

Introduction: "Do you know Barnum?" -- The richest child in town -- The nursemaid -- On Broadway -- The mermaid -- The general -- The queen -- The continent -- At home -- The voice -- Temples of entertainment -- Before the fall -- Putting out fires -- A ruined man -- The war and a wedding -- Fire! -- Show fever -- Marriage bonds -- Excitement, pepper & mustard -- And Bailey -- Last years.

From birth to death, Phineas Taylor Barnum 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 life's work, yet willed himself to rebuild and succeed again. Wilson captures the full genius, infamy, and allure of the ebullient showman. He makes the case that P. T. Barnum represented, and indeed created, a distinctly American sense of optimism, industriousness, humor, and relentless energy. -- adapted from jacket

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