02877cam a22003133u 450000100060000000300070000600500170001300600020003000700050003200800410003701000130007804000110009104100170010205000070011910000470012624500110017326400510018430000470023533600260028233700260030833800360033450000310037050801920040152017450059353400830233865300460242185600530246785600430252076157UtSlPG20260610134749.0mcr n260607r20251923utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d  a43027009  aUtSlPG 7aen2iso639-1 4aGV1 aWerner, M. R.q(Morris Robert),d1897-198110aBarnum 1aSalt Lake City, UT :bProject Gutenberg,c2025  a1 online resource :bmultiple file formats  atextbtxt2rdacontent  acomputerbc2rdamedia  aonline resourcebcr2rdacarrier  aRelease date is 2025-05-24  aTim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)  a"Barnum" by M. R. Werner is a biography written in the early 20th century. It recounts the life and legend of P. T. Barnum, probing beyond his flamboyant self-portrait to assess his character, methods, and influence on American popular culture. The focus is on how a sharp-witted Connecticut Yankee harnessed publicity, spectacle, and shrewd deal-making to build a show business empire.  The opening of the book frames Barnum’s own autobiography as both biased and revealing, then argues for a fresh, sourced reappraisal of his place in American life. It sketches his Bethel, Connecticut upbringing—practical jokes, country-store sharpness, early arithmetic prowess, religious tensions, and the formative “Ivy Island” prank—alongside teenage lottery hustles, his father’s death, and a defiant stint as a small-town newspaper editor that led to jail and a triumphal release. Moving to New York, the narrative shows him nearly broke yet relentless, staging his first big attraction with the ancient slave Joice Heth, fanning controversy through the press, and learning the power of sensational publicity. It follows his rough apprenticeship on the road with jugglers and a circus, his willingness to preach on Sunday and sing in blackface on Monday, a string of business failures and swindles, and a turn to writing theatrical ads. The section culminates with his audacious, intricate maneuver to acquire Scudder’s American Museum: persuading the building’s owner to back him, pledging his worthless “Ivy Island” as security, undermining a rival stock scheme through the newspapers, and seizing control—signaled by a cheeky note putting the rival directors on the free list. (This is an automatically generated summary.)  pOriginally published:cGarden City, NY: Garden City Publishing Co., Inc., 1923  aBarnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor), 1810-18914 uhttps://archive.org/details/barnum00wern/page/n340uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76157