This carefully researched study of America's greatest showman, huckster, and impresario is both an inclusive analysis of the historical and cultural forces that were the conditions of P. T. Barnum's success, and, as befits its subject, a richly entertaining presentation of the outrageous man and his exploits.

Neil Harris is professor of history at the University of Chicago. He is the author of The Artist in American Society and Cultural Excursion, both published by the University of Chicago Press.

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