Fleming, Candace. (2009).
The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P.T. Barnum. New York: Schwartz & Wade Books. 151 pages. ISBN 9780375945977
Awards/Selection Lists:
-ALA Best Books for Young Adults 2010
-ALSC Notable Book 2010
-Booklist Top Ten Biographies for Youth 2010
-Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book 2009
-New York Public Library 100 Books For Reading and Sharing Title
-Publishers Weekly Best Book 2009
-VOYA "Perfect Ten"
-YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults 2010 (nominee)
Brief Summary: P.T. Barnum was arguably the world's greatest showman. No small life could contain him. Amongst his better known accomplishments are the Barnum & Bailey Circus and the P.T. Barnum American Museum, which burned down, not once, but twice, in New York City. But did you know he was also a politician, a humanitarian, a businessman, a church goer, a recovered alcoholic, a husband, an advocate for animal rights, an independent consult for biologists and budding zookeepers, and a father of 4 daughters, full of life and humor until the very end of his 81 years?
Personal Reaction: I LOVED this book, flat out loved it. I relished every page, meticulously examined every photograph, every etching, reread the account of this enigmatic man's life, time and again. It was the perfect length, an upbeat, easing flowing tone, and the illustrations really gave a feeling for life during the subject's time. I believe it to be excellently written!
I have a passion for history. I've always had this passion and traditional American forms of entertainment, particularly those appealing and available to the young and old, the poor and the wealthy, have always fascinated me because of their attachment to history and their ability to bring people, from all walks of life, together. You can practically feel decades of smiling faces, curiosity and tradition, palpable in the air at these events. You can imagine yourself in a bygone era, enjoying the simple pleasures, marveling and learning new things, and building memories with loved ones. The one event that immediately might come to mind is good, old-fashioned, American baseball, which is of course, one of my very favorites. The second that comes to mind? The American circus, and no one did the American circus better than the larger than life figure that was P.T. Barnum.
Content: Before I read this book, I had heard some things about P.T. Barnum, some good, but many vilifying, without any real documentation to back it up. This always bothered me, as I'm a staunch believer in making my own mind up about people, for where some see little worth, I may see a glittering jewel. I get the feeling that Candace Fleming may have felt the same when she set out to write this book. While she consulted many of Barnum's own documents on his life and business dealings, she also consulted biographies and first hand accounts, stories, legends, and even writings on the ideology of people and conditions of living during his time. I believe this to have created a full, spherical account of his life from all directions, avoiding creating what I term as a "cabochon" effect, that is, the appearing fullness on the top, with a flat and deceptive back. Most people hear of atrocities and animal abuse at circuses, of Barnum as a deceiver and only interested in money. The truth, as Fleming sees it, is much more interesting.
On the charge of animal abuses and atrocities, Fleming points out that many of the animals Barnum acquired were exotic, never before cared for in the Western world, and most people in his day simply did not consider collecting them for exhibition to be wrong. In his defense, as his collection expanded and his years went on, he became an invaluable asset to Natural History, Biology and newly established Zoology. He was known as an animal expert, because he had decades of experience feeding, caring for and observing these animals and their behaviors. As he grew older, he began to show empathy for them, building them larger habitats and sobbing over their fates after the last devastating museum fire. When they died, regardless of the cause, he often donated their bodies, skeletons or their taxidermied epididymis' to universities for study, such as Harvard. He kept log books and had specialized railroad cars developed for them, and spoke out in defense of them in public venues and during his tenure as mayor and councilman. When a self-proclaimed animal advocate spoke out against his treatment of his animals, or the tricks they performed, Barnum was completely transparent in his dealings and showed the advocate, publicly, how the animals were in no harm, so much so that, while they butted heads over many years, he grew to have a healthy respect for the advocate's work.
On being a deceiver and only interested in money, Fleming shows this simply was not true. Barnum's opinion was that everyone liked a good "humbug", that is, a practical joke, as long as they know they are in on it. People like to be entertained, to hear a good story, to make up their own minds as to what is truth and what is not. He did write letters to newspapers claiming to be other people, to help potentiate the stories of his attraction, but this was in an era where fantastic fiction was more readily reported as fact than actual researched and documented facts. Facts didn't sell newspapers and journalists were not held accountable. When one of these humbugs were discovered, much of the public was delighted at the joke, as they were never malicious. Was it strictly for monetary purposes? Was he trying to make people look a fool to increase his profits? Not exactly.
Barnum believed people wanted and needed to be entertained. They wanted to believe in the impossible, in the grand, to escape the mundane qualities of everyday life and dare to dream, just like he did. Did he have an interest in profit making, being a businessman? Absolutely! But no one seems to mention that there is no record of a malicious attempt at making these profits, that he compensated his performers EXTREMELY well, paying for food and board, medical expenses, costuming and generous wages at a time when those who were "different" could be shunned and left to die in the street. Barnum believed that these people were not freaks but wonders, people to be marveled at, respected and exalted. He got them together with the public, and got them talking, lecturing, occupying the same space and he helped them earn a tidy living. He wasn't just about miniature people, giants, dog boys and Siamese twins. He also highlighted and promoted inventions and entertainers of all types to great success, most notably, the singer, Jenny Lind. He had a talent for promotion, for entertaining, for making people happy.
Was he perfect? Absolutely not. But he showed a strength of character in the way he dealt with people, helped his community, was passionate about making people happy and owning up to, and correcting his mistakes that was admirable and above all, he was a fighter and a dreamer. Life would knock him down, from the time he was a young boy, and he would get back up and fight harder, make a way for himself and try to make people happy. In doing so, he made himself happy. He had strong relationships and tender feelings, big mistakes, but bigger comebacks, remarkable talents, education and gumption, and a huge concern for his fellow man, but never before have I seen it all laid out, accessible and entertaining as Candace Fleming puts forth in this book.
Content Evaluation: It is very obvious that the author exhaustively researched this book. There are so many, what I consider to be, "little known" facts about P.T. Barnum (did you know his name was actually Phineas Taylor, and that he was named after a prank loving uncle, or that he helped establish a library and never did say that famously attributed line of "There is a sucker born every minute"?) that make it plainly obvious that Fleming was determined to tell as much about this man's life as possible. It's very easy to read, with explanations of circus terms, ideologies of the time, and a fantastic Source Note section, laid out by chapter, in addition to an annotated bibliography. I don't recall the author at any time making conjectures about what happened or how someone felt. She is very sure to mention supporting evidence to back up her claims. While sometimes I thought that it might have been an overly positive evaluation of P.T. Barnum, by the end of the book I realized that the negatives were also brought to light, such as his drinking early in his career, being an absentee father, his less than kind verbal attentions to his wife (while he was drinking), his recovery, his bad business dealings, his bankruptcy and more, making the story much more balanced, and again, a much rounder, fuller account.
