Freak Show: Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit

Yes, I’m shocked, but I shouldn’t be!So much is covered in this book about human oddities, that I don’t know where to begin.The people in this book are referred to as freak by the author because this is the term that was used during the period of their exploitation.The book covers the importance of the term freak and what is the meaning for its use.The people who are in this group would be considered disabled and extremely exploited today. They spent their lives being on display in amusement parks, circuses, carnivals, sideshows and certain museums.Many of the people were in on their exploitation, but so were many taken advantage of. Many children as well as adults were sold to the showman or show woman who exploited them.Lots of outright lies or exaggerations were told about many of the “oddities” in order to increase their popularity thus their value.It was normal to display any black performers as wild, or savage African or ape and ape like. To this day many black people have an intense dislike for monkeys and apes and any references to them because of these bigoted comments.People who were mentally disabled were treated like they were different species and were taken advantage of.Fortunately, the sideshow “freaks” have lost their popularity and people are no longer interested in staring at someone with no arms or two heads.This book gives a lot of background information and details about the life of many of the people who traveled through this career.And thanks to the author for listing plenty of notes and references in the back of the book. And thanks for the wonderful pictures.

Reading it now. It is a good nonfiction look at freak shows and their history.

Nice reference book for anyone with an interest.

This is an interesting book that traces the origin and evolution of Freak Shows in the U.S. It is not meant to be titillating. Having read several previous works in this area by such authorities as Fiedler over the years, I found this work informative.

I was hoping the book with give more behind the scenes about traveling circuses and shows. It does give a history but nothing I didn't already know. I do know there was a culture within the traveling carneys an I was hoping to learn about that. Not this book.

Good condition. A great book in terms of curiosity studies. Very interesting and well done

It was ok

One does not need to be a fan of the cirucs or amusements along those lines to be intrigued by Robert Bogdan's examination of freak shows. In "Freak Show: Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit," Bogdan traces the roots and heyday of freak shows with alacrity, intelligence, and respect. This thoroughly researched work is filled with pictures and artifacts (some rather gruesome in their subject) that furthers Bogdan's examination of freak show history.Beginning in the mid-1800s to around 1940, freak shows were a staple of amusement in the United States. At a time when strange creatures and humans from foreign coutries were unknown to those in other countries it was easy to startle and entertain with these fascinating exhibits. Who now can imagine what it would be like to live in a world where a giraffe was an unknown, fascinatingly strange creature. It is so common to us today that at times it is hard to conceive how people could be taken in by some of the fabricated freaks (or gaffs as they were known as). The lack of scientific and medical knowledge allowed freak shows to propser, especially those that featured people we now know as mentally handicapped, because their conditions were unidentified at the time. True, real oddities existed - the super-tall or super-small, the armless or legless wonders, the Siamese twins - but freak shows also cast their lot in created freaks - fake "savages" from foreign lands, "wild" children, island cannibals, and tattooed marvels in a day and age when tattooing was not common, but rather a sure sign of savage heathens.Bogdan covers the real as well as the fake, those who made themselves feaks and those who were forced to be labled as freaks. Knowing what we do today, it is incredible to think that this was allowed to happen, but humans are so curious and so struck by differences that we find it hard not to gawk at these oddities, whether they are on stage or passing us on the street. At times Bogdan's work reads a lot like a thesis and it is a little redundant and recursive at times, but that is likely due to the fact that the author had a lot of ground to cover. It is evident that Bogdan is not attempting anything like exploitation of his topic, for he treats it with profound respect and honestly, even assessing the freak show's ancestors of today. It is an interesting, although sometimes dry, read about a fascinating topic even for someone who has no interest in the circus whatsoever.

An excellent book that takes you through the world of freaks.Detailed life stories of the people and informative and empathetic information about their lives. The book shows how they were exploited but also the exceptional few who gloried in their uniqueness.Enough illustrations to visualise the content and a well constructed book.

Very well presented book - great photographs and information. Highly recommended for those interested in "Freak Shows"