Barnum: An American Life

In this detailed biography, American Scholar editor Wilson (Mathew Brady) portrays Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810–1891) as a complex and versatile businessman undeserving of the shady showman caricature that’s been painted of him. Barnum, born into a family of good-hearted New England practical jokers with a deep respect for others, turned to entertainment in 1835 after pursuing other livelihoods. Early on, he pushed the boundaries of good judgment with “humbuggery... [a]mildly deceitful way to get people in the door,” including the controversial exhibition of Joice Hath, an African-American woman he billed as George Washington’s 161-year-old former nursemaid. He later reinvented himself as a museum operator, newspaper publisher, and the mayor of Bridgeport, Conn., who advocated for equal rights for women and African-Americans. It wasn’t until he was 60 years old that Barnum partnered with circus owners Coup and Castello to create a traveling “museum, menagerie, caravan, and hippodrome.” In workmanlike prose, Wilson describes how, in 1877, Barnum formed “P.T. Barnum’s New and Only Greatest Show on Earth,” and in 1881, he entered a merger with Great London Circus owner James Bailey that resulted in the New York City debut of the Barnum & London Circus (this portion of the narrative is weighed down with legal details), which was eventually renamed Barnum & Bailey Circus. Wilson’s well-researched though dense work shows why even 139 years after Barnum’s death, he remains a larger-than-life character. [em](Aug.) [/em]