Laura Freeman Laura Freeman

Oh, what a circus

Barnum’s antics smack of exploitation – but he took people who were invisible to society and made them stars

issue 16 December 2017

‘There’s a sucker born every minute.’ That was the P.T. Barnum battle cry. It has come to have a ring of contempt, but no one loved a sucker more than Barnum. Entertain them, he said. Thrill them, shock them. Make ’em laugh, make ’em cry. Give ’em the old razzle-dazzle.

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