The showman and the slave - Info and Reading Options
race, death, and memory in Barnum's America
By Benjamin Reiss
"The showman and the slave" was published by Harvard University Press in 2001 - Cambridge, Mass, it has 267 pages and the language of the book is English.
“The showman and the slave” Metadata:
- Title: The showman and the slave
- Author: Benjamin Reiss
- Language: English
- Number of Pages: 267
- Publisher: Harvard University Press
- Publish Date: 2001
- Publish Location: Cambridge, Mass
“The showman and the slave” Subjects and Themes:
- Subjects: ➤ Race relations - Race identity - Whites - Popular culture - African Americans in popular culture - Racism in popular culture - Death in popular culture - Women slaves - Freak shows - Social aspects of Freak shows - Biography - History - Barnum, p. t. (phineas taylor), 1810-1891 - Popular culture, united states - Sideshows - Northeastern states - United states, race relations - Women, united states, biography - Social aspects - White people
- People: Joice Heth (d. 1836) - P. T. Barnum (1810-1891)
- Places: Northeastern States - United States
- Time: 19th century
Edition Specifications:
- Pagination: x, 267 p. :
Edition Identifiers:
- The Open Library ID: OL3943297M - OL6210530W
- Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) ID: 46449314
- Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN): 2001024173
- ISBN-10: 0674006364
- All ISBNs: 0674006364
AI-generated Review of “The showman and the slave”:
"The showman and the slave" Description:
The Open Library:
"In this compelling story about one of the nineteenth century's most famous Americans, Benjamin Reiss uses P. T. Barnum's Joice Heth hoax to examine the contours of race relations in the antebellum North. Barnum's first exhibit as a showman, Heth was an elderly enslaved woman who was said to be the 161-year-old former nurse of the infant George Washington. Seizing upon the novelty, the newly emerging commercial press turned her act - and especially her death - into one of the first media spectacles in American history.". "In placing together the fragmentary and conflicting evidence of the event, Reiss paints a picture of people looking at history, at the human body, at social class, at slavery, at performance, at death, and always - if obliquely - at themselves. At the same time, he reveals how deeply an obsession with race penetrated different facets of American life, from public memory to private fantasy. Concluding the book is a piece of historical detective work in which Reiss attempts to solve the puzzle of Heth's real identity before she met Barnum. His search yields a tantalizing connection between early mass culture and a slave's subtle mockery of her master."--BOOK JACKET.
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