Barnum

An American Life

By: Robert Wilson

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

The first major biography of P. T. Barnum in a generation, a vivid account of the forefather of American entertainment.

P. T. Barnum was the greatest showman the world has ever seen: the cocreator of the Barnum & Bailey Circus and the man who made worldwide sensations of Jumbo the Elephant, General Tom Thumb, and the “Swedish Nightingale,” Jenny Lind. He was the champion of wonder, joy, trickery, and “humbug.” He was, as Barnum argues, one of the most important Americans of the 19th century.

Nearly 125 years after his death, the name P. T. Barnum still inspires wonder. Robert Wilson’s vivid new biography captures the full genius, infamy, and allure of the ebullient showman. From birth to death, Phineas Taylor Barnum repeatedly reinvented himself. He learned as a young man how to wow crowds, and built a fortune that placed him among the first millionaires in the United States. He also suffered tragedy, bankruptcy, and fires that destroyed his life’s work, yet willed himself to rebuild and succeed again. As an entertainer, Barnum courted controversy time and again throughout his life - yet he was also a man of strong convictions, guided in his work not by a desire to deceive but an eagerness to thrill and bring joy to his audiences. He almost certainly never uttered the infamous line, “There's a sucker born every minute,” instead taking pride in giving crowds their money’s worth and more.

Robert Wilson, editor of The American Scholar, tells a gripping story in Barnum, one that’s imbued with the same buoyant spirit as the man himself. Wilson adeptly makes the case for P. T. Barnum’s place among the icons of American history, as a figure who represented, and indeed created, a distinctly American sense of optimism, industriousness, humor, and relentless energy.

©2019 Robert Wilson (P)2019 Simon & Schuster Audio

Enjoyable if a tad long overview of an American original

Grew to love this, but it took some time. Arthur Morey is terrific, even if he occasionally sounds like he needs a glass of water or a nap. Barnum bursts into life here and I enjoyed the level of detail

Much more than the circus

This is a biography of P.T. Barnum. Today, Barnum is most often associated with the Barnum and Bailey circus. That venture however was a final chapter in a very long and very interesting life. Barnum was a promoter and self promoter of great skill. He toured with and promoted odd exhibits and with human “oddities” during the mid 1800s. The most famous of these was Tom Thumb, a dwarf who captured the attention of the world not only for his diminutive size (he was only around 26” tall at the time), but also by his skill as a showman. Barnum’s time with him made them both very rich. Barnum did numerous such tours with other people and exhibits. He later opened a museum that was similar in nature to Ripley’s except with real people and animals inside in addition to what he claims were more than a million exhibits. Unfortunately, Barnum had poor luck with fires suffering multiple during his life, one deliberately set by Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. So several times he lost his museum and exhibits and had to start over squiring things. Finally, Barnum in his later life went back on the road with his entertainment and partnered with Bailey, who Barnum called his perfect partner. The two remained partners until Barnum’s death at age 80.

In the age of Trump it was very hard to listen to the book and not compare the two. Both were fantastic at self promotion and both felt justified in doing a lot of "puffing" to get customers in the door. I'll leave the comparisons at that since the book doesn't go into any of that with the exception of one passing reference.

This was a very enjoyable book. It does a good job of covering Barnum's life and the times in which he lived. Barnum lead an interesting life and I learned a few things about the period. For one, the book used the word humbug many times. I had only heard it coming from Scrooge previously. It was used frequently in the 1800s to refer to a fake or a fraud such as the mermaid corpse that was one of Barnum’s early exhibits. Another tidbit was the word jumbo. Barnum exhibited a huge elephant named Jumbo. I assumed they called him that due to his size. Wrong. We now call big things jumbo BECAUSE of just how famous that elephant was! Barnum changed our language. I’d highly recommend the book. My only complaint was that the reader spoke very quietly and I had to turn the volume up higher than normal, but that was an easy fix.

Good, but not as much fun as the autobiography

I thought this was a good biography. But before I listened to this book, I listened to Barnum's own autobiography. The autobiography seemed more fun, with more humor, even if it is not as complete. This biography by Wilson has more to say about Barnum's wives, for instance, and also about Barnum's later years and death. But this biography does depend heavily on Barnum's autobiography. Both books are good and interesting. I found myself comparing Barnum to Walt Disney because of his effort to create wholesome entertainment. But I also found myself comparing Barnum to Donald Trump for his penchant for stretching the truth, especially in the early years. Overall, I came away with a lot of respect for what Barnum accomplished.