The Fabulous Showman - Metamorphoses 20

The story of an extraordinary life, with all the emotion of a true novel.

Phineas Taylor Barnum was a remarkable showman in 19th-century America. He was born in Bethel, Connecticut, where he engaged in various small ventures without much success in his early life (he worked as a store clerk and even founded a local weekly newspaper, The Herald of Freedom).

In 1835, after moving to New York, he finally began his career as a showman. In 1871, after many adventures worthy of a novel, he founded "The Greatest Show on Earth," a mix of circus, zoo, and museum of horrors. This enterprise would later give rise to "Barnum's Circus" ten years later.

Retold by Irving Wallace, this life story takes on all the prominence and emotion of a true novel.