Barnum's Own Story: The Autobiography of P. T. Barnum

P. T. Barnum's career of showmanship and charlatanry was marked by a surprising undercurrent of honesty and forthrightness. His exuberant autobiography forms a happy combination of all those traits, revealing the whole story of his world-famous hoaxes and publicity stunts. Here is a pageant of nineteenth-century America's gullibility and thirst for marvels, as told by the master of revels himself.



A born storyteller, Barnum recalls his association with Tom Thumb, his audience with Queen Vict...