History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

The Mystery of Samba : Popular Music and National Identity in Brazil

Average customer rating:

Are you an academic?
provocative & interesting read

The Mystery of Samba : Popular Music and National Identity in Brazil
Hermano Vianna
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0807847666
Release Date: 1999-01-20

Book Description

Samba is Brazil's "national rhythm," the foremost symbol of its culture and nationhood. To the outsider, samba and the famous pre-Lenten carnival of which it is the centerpiece seem to showcase the country's African heritage. Within Brazil, however, samba symbolizes the racial and cultural mixture that, since the 1930s, most Brazilians have come to believe defines their unique national identity.

But how did Brazil become "the Kingdom of Samba" only a few decades after abolishing slavery in 1888? Typically, samba is represented as having changed spontaneously, mysteriously, from a "repressed" music of the marginal and impoverished to a national symbol cherished by all Brazilians. Here, however, Hermano Vianna shows that the nationalization of samba actually rested on a long history of relations between different social groups—poor and rich, weak and powerful—often working at cross-purposes to one another.

A fascinating exploration of the "invention of tradition," The Mystery of Samba is an excellent introduction to Brazil's ongoing conversation on race, popular culture, and national identity.

Customer Reviews:

Are you an academic?.......2005-09-18

Then this strenuously researched and exhaustively detailed exegesis is for you. Footnotes in abundance! Dry as the Sahara!

Interested in an accessable overview of the history of the development of Afro/Brasilian music leading to what we now know as "samba"? Then don't be fooled by the ecstatic dancer on the cover, we're talking impenetrable doctoral thesis material here.

On that level, it's a great piece of source material with a lot of history to offer.

Want an informative yet easy read on the subject? Google it and almost any other offering will deliver.

-Carl (aka Carlinhos)...
(...)

provocative & interesting read.......2004-12-01

This is a straightforward, easy to read, enjoyable and informative book about how samba dance and music moved from a marginalized position to one now considered to be at the "heart" of Brazilian identity. Vianna, a scholar of music, introduces the reader to important samba musicians, intellectuals, and government officials in this story that centers around the rule of Getulio Vargas which began in the 1930s and lasted into the 1950s. Vianna connects samba to ideas of national identity and race, offering insight into why, despite the celebration of samba and Afro-Brazilian roots, Brazilians of African descent continue to face discrimination. This book would make a great read for non-scholars and students alike, who are interested in music, Brazil, and the African diaspora.

Average customer rating:

where else?
A top-notch biography of a difficult subject
It was cultivating but it seemed to lack the writers touch

Dark Carnival
David J. Skal
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0385474067
Release Date: 1995-09-01

Amazon.com

Although Tod Browning directed the 1931 classic Dracula and some of Lon Chaney's best movies, he is better known today for Freaks, which effectively sank his film career. Judging from the evidence in Dark Carnival: The Secret World of Tod Browning: Hollywood's Master of the Macabre, this probably wouldn't have mattered to him. Authors David J. Skal (Screams of Reason and The Monster Show) and Elias Savada faced a difficult task in recounting the life of a man who "reveled in disturbing and provoking the public ... from a position of obsessive privacy," apparently caring nothing for posterity or even his reputation during his lifetime. Because Browning chose to reveal so little of his private self, any biography of him must by default focus on his career--which is itself strange and unsettling.

As a filmmaker, Browning established a reputation as a teller of pessimistic, even perverse tales, often featuring physically deformed characters (Chaney's specialty), which doubtless reflected his youthful experiences performing in carnival sideshows. Following the enormous success of Dracula, he assembled a cast of real sideshow performers to make Freaks, which appalled nearly everyone and was quickly removed from circulation. He soon found himself being quietly pushed out of filmmaking, and spent his final years leading a reclusive, slightly paranoid existence.

Readers of Dark Carnival should not expect to come away with a very clear picture of the intentionally shadowy Browning. Skal and Savada do an admirable job of showing us both the demanding "sadist" and the "great humanist" described by his colleagues, but for the most part, Browning's own thoughts and feelings must remain mysterious--which is just what he wanted. Dark Carnival includes photo sections, a genealogy, and filmographies that incorporate contemporary reviews. --Mary V. Burke

Book Description

One of the most original and unsettling filmmakers of all time -- the
creator of the horror classics Dracula and Freaks, among others-- Tod Browning is also one of the most enigmatic directors who ever worked in Hollywood.  A complicated, troubled, and fiercely private man, he confounded would-be biographers hoping to penetrate his secret, obsessive world -- both during his lifetime and afterward.

Now, film historians David J. Skal and Elias Savada, using newly discovered
family documents and revealing published interviews with friends and
colleagues, join forces for the first full-length biography of the man who
earned a reputation as "the Edgar Allan Poe of the cinema."  The authors
chronicle Browning's turn-of-the-century flight from an eccentric Louisville family into the world of carnival sideshows (where he began his career literally buried alive) and vaudeville, his disastrous first marriage, his rapid climb to riches in the burgeoning silent film industry, and the
alcoholism that would plague him throughout his life.  Browning's legendary
collaborations with Lon Chaney, Sr., and Bela "Dracula" Lugosi are explored in depth, along with the studio politics that ended his career after the bizarre
circus drama Freaks -- a cult classic today -- proved to be one of the
biggest box-office disasters of the early thirties.

Illustrated throughout with rare photographs, Dark Carnival is both an
artful, often shocking portrait of a singular film pioneer and an illuminating
study of the evolution of horror, essential to an understanding of our
continuing fascination with the macabre.

Customer Reviews:

where else?.......2003-01-28

Will you find this much detail about Browning. That alone gets Skal's effort the highest rating. Fascinating material.

A top-notch biography of a difficult subject.......1999-12-10

Director Tod Browning, best known for his films "Dracula" (1931) and "Freaks," was a surrealist for the masses. In his films he used characters with mental and physical abnormalities to illustrate the plight of humanity diminished by modernism. He was one of the first horror auteurs in America, and filtered elements of the fantastic from European film makers like Robert Weine and F.W. Murnau. As an artist, he was uneven, and as the subject of a biography, he is all but unknowable, but David J. Skal does the best he can. Some sections of the book (especially the ones covering Bela Lugosi and the making of "Dracula") retread earlier work by Skal. Browning is also not the best subject for a biographical treatment, since he left almost no letters or personal effects. Instead of resorting to guesswork or pop psychology, however, Skal (with his collaborator Elias Savada, a film historian) wisely focuses on the content of Browning's films. The best sections of the book deal with Browning's frequent silent movies collaborations with Lon Chaney, Sr., and the making of, and subsequent furor over, the film "Freaks." This is a top notch book that should appeal greatly to film buffs, lovers of silent cinema, Hollywood historians, cultural critics, and horror fans of all stripes. (And compleatists and trainspotters will be happy to know that the filmography is both detailed and exhaustive.)

It was cultivating but it seemed to lack the writers touch.......1998-04-30

It started off good then i started to loose intrest. it felt like it needed a few more adjitives.

Average customer rating:

Eros For Sale, Reporting for Laughs
Not for the unsophististicated.
Underwhelming

Sex Carnival
Bill Brownstein
Manufacturer: ECW Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1550224158

Book Description

Sex Carnival is a whimsical, eye-opening record of one man's travels into the bold new world of porn. Bill Brownstein provides a guide for the uninitiated and the bewildered, a hands-on intro for anyone who wonders why the porno biz has become so mainstream in just the last few years. Brownstein's global travels take him from watching Tristan and other sex superstars accept their trophies at the annual porn awards ceremony in Las Vegas to witnessing the weekend shopping sprees of Dutch families as the kids push their grocery carts through the biggest sex supermarkets on earth. He takes us from dungeons and dragons pleasure chambers in New York to a different kind of pleasure-the rough trade in Hamburg. And along the way, he stops off to catch some lap-dancing in Montreal and all kinds of unexpected action at the sex bars of Paris. Brownstein provides a lively account of the business of sex and reveals his encounters with a universe of titillation that is fresh, original, naughty, and very bizarre.

Customer Reviews:

Eros For Sale, Reporting for Laughs.......2001-09-10

The result of a publisher asking Bill Brownstein to check out global sex hot spots, _Sex Carnival_ (ECW Press), is Brownsteinýs rambling, jocular account of completing that assignment. His chapters are arranged by city in Europe, the US, and Canada; his publisherýs budget prevented Bangkok. He got to see some places that if you are like me, you are curious about, and also if you are like me, you wouldnýt get caught dead in. Take, for instance, the Porno Oscars at the Venetian in Las Vegas. The lovely Tristan Taormino picks up her award for best tape devoted to a particular sexual act. "Oh, my God! This is so wonderful!... I just want to thank my mom and dad..." The Adult Video News Award show has become so mainstream that there is now a prize for Best Non-Sex Performance. When Brownstein gets to chat with John Leslie ("The Cecil B. DeMille of Porn"), he discovers a theme that runs throughout this book. Often the people in sex businesses are very conventional. Leslie paints landscapes, plays harmonica in a blues band, grows his own food, and has a marriage lasting two decades. His wife explains that she met him in 1980, when he was famous for his performances in front of the porn cameras. "He was a huge star - well, you know what I mean..."

Brownstein gets to interview the seventy-four year old Hugh Hefner at the famous Playboy Mansion. "All of what has happened in my life," Hef says, "has not made me cynical, has not made me overly sophisticated or jaded. I am still very much the boy who dreamed the dreams and stayed connected to them." Perhaps this explains his five girlfriends, the ages of four of which it would take to add up beyond his own. He has, once again, displayed great timing. Pfizer Pharmaceuticals marketing division, take note: Hef says about Viagra, "When you have five girlfriends, you need it... It's the best legal recreational drug out there." Nearby in Beverly Hills is Lou Paget who gives seminars on the themes of her best-selling books, _How to be a Great Lover_ and _How to Give Her Absolute Pleasure_. She also gives private lessons and group instruction on fellatio. This explains why Brownstein sees her dishwasher is full of latex phalluses; she takes a briefcase full of them to her classes for student use. They lie who say she uses fruits or vegetables.

Amsterdam is hot. Paris is not. And remarkably, Montreal seems quite a fetish capital. It goes without saying that Brownstein has picked the less seedy venues of commercial sex for his entertaining explorations. The people he interviews make legal livings, and he'd be less amusing if he were looking at the darker side of his carnival. Nonetheless, sticking to the high end of what is now popular entertainment has given him a platform to make jokes and open eyes, and to let us in on an international and surprisingly human aspect of the pursuit of happiness.

Not for the unsophististicated........2001-05-27

Bill Brownstein is not for the purient either. He has an air of engaged detachment but is absorbed despite himself. He provides an overview of some interesting parts of the multi-billion dollar porn industry. But it is an interesting business. Brownstein manages to see the subtle humor in what is a serious business to most.

He reminds me of Calvin Trillin who wrote for the New Yorker about which was the best chili restaurant in Cincinnati. Trillin didn't care which was best but made the reader interested in the fact that people there did care which was best.

But don't belive me read the book. Be ready to have people stare at you when you LOL...

Underwhelming.......2001-02-20

Unfortunately, this book does not succeed in being either 1) a juicy and thought-provoking expose, or 2) a well-written and engaging travelogue. It reads like a series of PG-rated magazine articles strung together with very little theme or continuity. The writing is journalistic and pretty bland. Wouldn't recommend it, especially at $15-$20 retail for a thin paperback you could finish in a day and will never touch again.

Bacchanal: The Carnival Culture of Trinidad

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Bacchanal: The Carnival Culture of Trinidad
Peter Mason
Manufacturer: Temple University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1566396638

Book Description

On the days preceding Ash Wednesday, Trinidad erupts in an orgy of excitement, noise, color, and energy known as carnival. Other countries celebrate carnival, but none quite like Trinidad, where carnival is not just a two-day event; it is an all-year-round statement of identity. Up to 100,000 Trinidadians, or almost 10 percent of the population, actively take part in carnival. Everyone talks and argues about it, some boycott it, but no one ignores it. Calypsonian SuperBlue has called it "one of the most awesome moods in the world." Trinidadians have a word to describe it: "Bacchanal!"

In this vivid and exuberant book, journalist Peter Mason looks at the past, present, and future of carnival, using not just personal observations and printed sources but also interviews with a wide variety of participants, including performers, pan tuners, designers, and stick fighters. Mason examines the three essential elements of Trinidadian carnival—steelband, calypso, and masquerade. He also discusses recent developments like the growing influence of women and the effects of commercialism. As Mason demonstrates, carnival brings together nearly all aspects of Trinidad's cultural identity—religion, music, language, humor, folk traditions, politics, gender roles, ethnic traditions, even food and sport. It also has an influence, outside the country, on how people view the island and as an export in itself. Mason weaves all these facets of carnival together to create a vibrant sense of the phenomenon itself—its wit and its vulgarity, its sumptuous colors and heart-pounding noise, its competitiveness and spontaneity, the months of hard work to produce two days of exuberant self-abandonment—all the complex energies that lead to "Bacchanal!"

Book Description

Like many Caribbean nations, Trinidad has felt the effects of globalization on its economy, politics, and expressive culture. Even Carnival, once a clandestine folk celebration, has been transformed into a major transnational festival. In Trinidad Carnival, Garth L. Green, Philip W. Scher, and an international group of scholars explore Carnival as a reflection of the nation and culture of Trinidad and Trinidadians worldwide. The nine essays cover topics such as women in Carnival, the politics and poetics of Carnival, Carnival and cultural memory, Carnival as a tourist enterprise, the steelband music of Carnival, Calypso music on the world stage, Carnival and rap, and Carnival as a global celebration. For readers interested in the history and current expression of Carnival, this volume offers a multidimensional and transnational view of Carnival as a representation of Trinidad and Caribbean culture everywhere.

Contributors are Robin Balliger, Shannon Dudley, Pamela R. Franco, Patricia A. de Freitas, Ray Funk, Garth L. Green, Donald R. Hill, Lyndon Phillip, Victoria Razak, and Philip W. Scher.

Average customer rating:

Great book

I'm glad I got this book.

It's a hoot!

Carny Folk

Carny Folk
Francine Homberger
Manufacturer: Citadel
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Circus | Theater | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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American Sideshow : An Encyclopedia of History's Most Wondrous and Curiously Strange Performers

Freaks: We Who Are Not As Others

Secrets of the Sideshows

Wild, Weird, and Wonderful: The American Circus 1901-1927 as seen by F. W. Glasier, Photographer

James Taylor's Shocked and Amazed: On & Off the Midway

ASIN: 0806526610

Customer Reviews:

Great book.......2007-06-16

There is a lot of information about the persons covered, like where they grew up and what happened until they died. There are also pictures of most of them.

I'm glad I got this book........2007-01-11

I used to go to the state fair and see the displays "See the biggest steer alive!" "See the smallest woman ever!" "See the lady who had her head chopped off in a car accident and she is still alive!" I always looked down on those people. This book helped me to see them as people and I am kind of sorry that I never went in to see any of the shows.

It's a hoot!.......2006-11-10

You have to be a touch "warped" to enjoy a book like this, but if that's what floats your boat... this is the perfect item!

Carny Folk.......2006-01-22

A fascinating review of side show freaks and the more human side of their story. They seemed to hold a most non PC point of view, and some would fight for what they considered to be their rights as oposed to the rights allowed by others.

Masking and Power: Carnival and Popular Culture in the Caribbean

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Masking and Power: Carnival and Popular Culture in the Caribbean
Gerard Aching
Manufacturer: University of Minnesota Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0816640181

Book Description

Does the mask reveal more than it conceals? What, this book asks, becomes visible and invisible in the masking practiced in Caribbean cultures-not only in the familiar milieu of the carnival but in political language, social conduct, and cultural expressions that mimic, misrepresent, and mislead? Focusing on masking as a socially significant practice in Caribbean cultures, Gerard Aching's analysis articulates masking, mimicry, and misrecognition as a means of describing and interrogating strategies of visibility and invisibility in Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, Martinique, and beyond.

Masking and Power uses ethnographic fieldwork, psychoanalysis, and close literary readings to examine encounters between cultural insiders as these locals mask themselves and one another either to counter the social invisibility imposed on them or to maintain their socioeconomic privileges. Aching exposes the ways in which strategies of masking and mimicry, once employed to negotiate subjectivities within colonial regime, have been appropriated for state purposes and have become, with the arrival of self-government in the islands, the means by which certain privileged locals make a show of national and cultural unity even as they engage in the privatization of popular culture and its public performances.

Book Description

Step right up! The show's about to begin with this mesmerizing, full color collection of outrageous banners from the heyday of traveling circus sideshows. See the giant ?Alaskan king crab! Marvel at the Bearded Lady! Look, if you dare, at the Dog-Faced Boy! Watch the Woman Changing to Stone! Circus sideshows from the turn of the century through the 1950s boasted unbelievable "freaks of nature," incredible transformations, and death defying acts -- and the brazen banners that drew in the crowds were as colorful and intriguing as the lurid attractions themselves. For ?collectors and nostalgia buffs, as well as the merely curious, Freak Show celebrates this unique American commercial folk art phenomenon with vivid photographs of authentic banners highlighting the genre's most memorable ?examples, the artists who created them, and the unusual people and bizarre creatures they immortalized.

Customer Reviews:

Side-show Banner Art Expert.......2000-12-28

This dealer wrote the definitive book on banner art and artists. If you plan on collecting banners, you must read this book.

Definitive and Fun Guide to Circus Sideshow Banner Art!.......2000-08-11

This terrific book celebrates the (now) lost world of Circus Sideshow banner art. This book includes illustrations for such classic Circus Sideshow acts as the Alligator-Skin Girl, the Amazing Eeka, the Sword Swallower, the Rubber-Skin Man, and, of course, everybody's favorite cover girl, Sweet Marie, the world-renowned Fat Lady. This book also includes biographical information about the artists who created these amazing works of folk art such as Snap Wyatt, Johnny Meah, Fred Johnson, and Jack Cripe. This book is a surprisingly serious treatment of this little-known corner of the folk art world. (The authors convincingly link various visual elements in the sideshow banners to 17th Century Flemish portrait painting and Japanese wood-block prints!) This is a really fun book that every folk art fan will really love. The book contains 70 color illustrations and a total of 35 pages of essays. Incidentally, although I bought this book because of my interest in folk art, this book will also certainly appeal to circus enthusiasts and collectors of circus memorabilia.

James Taylor's Shocked and Amazed: On & Off the Midway

Average customer rating:

Amazing
the best of ballyhoo
James Taylor's Shocked and Amazed: On and Off the Midway

James Taylor's Shocked and Amazed: On & Off the Midway
James Taylor
Manufacturer: The Lyons Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1585747076

Book Description

The planet's foremost sideshow authority takes you on an unforgettable tour. (SEE QUOTE.)

Customer Reviews:

Amazing.......2003-06-23

You wouldn't know it on the East Coast due to all the rain, but summer is upon us. School's out, the days are longer, the nights are hotter, the beer goes down a little easier and in some parts of the country the fairs and carnivals are starting to roll through town. The fairs and carnivals of today are filled with shaky rides, artery clogging concessions, grifted games and not much else. Maybe you'll be graced by the occasional handpainted sideshow banner or, if you're lucky, perhaps you will come across an animal curiosity act, but the days of the old shows are long gone. The days of the ten in one, the talker working the tip, the days of THE SHOW have passed us by. The midway today is dominated by Bobo the Clown taunting passersby from his perch in the dunk tank. And while Bobo is a good show, he'll never replace the "good old days." Thankfully James Taylor and Kathleen Kotcher have been documenting the days of yore in the journal "Shocked and Amazed: On and Off the Midway" since 1995, and thankfully Lyon's Press has graced us with what is basically a Best of "Shocked and Amazed."
Lyons Press has included 21 pieces that they deemed most representative of the six earlier issues of the "Shocked and Amazed" journal and placed them together to form the bulk of this book. However, this book should not be looked at as simply a reprint of the journals of the past. Lyons, Taylor and Kotcher have added a number of never before seen photos, an introduction and an index, as well as updated some of the interviews to create a classic of sideshow lore and legend.
Included in this volume are pieces on the three legged man, the Human Blockhead, a sideshow fat man, the Monkey Girl and her husband the Alligator Skin Man, the Half Girl and her husband the American Giant, the Human Fountain, the Man with Three Eyes among others. Also included are pieces on P.T Barnum, Ward Hall, known as King of the Sideshows, Girl Shows, and Bobby Reynolds, the self proclaimed "greatest showman in the world."
There are other books that cover these topics on the shelves of your local mega bookstore/Starbucks, but "Shocked and Amazed" has one distinct advantage over those titles: it treats its subjects with respect and as people, and that comes through in the interviews. When reading this book you never get the feeling that Taylor is there to exploit his subject. Instead you get the feeling that Taylor has a genuine affection for, and interest in these people and is just there to document their stories and histories. The interviews are all very well done and offer the reader a candid look into the lives of these people and performers. Taylor does an outstanding job in this book of letting his readers get a candid and revealing glimpse into the world of the sideshow.
If you decide that this is a book that you should read (and it is!), then set aside a day in which to read it, because once you open it up you'll be hard pressed to put it down until you have devoured every piece of information contained in its pages. "Shocked and Amazed!" is a must have book for anyone interested in the lore, legend and myth of the sideshow.

the best of ballyhoo.......2003-04-30

Finally, those who have been outbid on eBay trying to acquire the long out-of-print early issues of James Taylor's sideshow magazine can read all fascinating articles in this book, which acts as a sort of "Shocked and Amazed" greatest hits collection. Over 250 pages of memories, history and humbug straight from the carnie's mouth are compiled in one handy volume, generously illustrated with unusual photographs.

One can only hope that this is the first in a series of volumes to collect articles from the fabulous magazine.

James Taylor's Shocked and Amazed: On and Off the Midway.......2003-01-02

"Step down a little closer you don't want to miss a thing!" James Tayor's writing is as interesting and colorful as his subject matter. He really loves the sideshow business and it shows in his writing. He gives the reader an intimate,insider, look at the shows, their operation and their performers. The photographs alone are worth the price of this book. "The shows about to begin...get your ticket and go now!"

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