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- catalog abstract ""In this compelling story about one of the nineteenth century's most famous Americans, Benjamin Reiss uses P.T. Barnum's Joice Heth hoax to examine the contours of race relations in the antebellum North. Barnum's first exhibit as a showman, Heth was an elderly enslaved woman who was said to be the 161-year-old former nurse of the infant George Washington. Seizing upon the novelty, the newly emerging commercial press turned her act - and especially her death - into one of the first media spectacles in American history." "In placing together the fragmentary and conflicting evidence of the event, Reiss paints a picture of people looking at history, at the human body, at social class, at slavery, at performance, at death, and always - if obliquely - at themselves. At the same time, he reveals how deeply an obsession with race penetrated different facets of American life, from public memory to private fantasy. Concluding the book is a piece of historical detective work in which Reiss attempts to solve the puzzle of Heth's real identity before she met Barnum. His search yields a tantalizing connection between early mass culture and a slave's subtle mockery of her master."--Jacket.".
- catalog contributor b12234151.
- catalog coverage "Northeastern States Race relations.".
- catalog created "2001.".
- catalog date "2001".
- catalog date "2001.".
- catalog dateCopyrighted "2001.".
- catalog description ""In placing together the fragmentary and conflicting evidence of the event, Reiss paints a picture of people looking at history, at the human body, at social class, at slavery, at performance, at death, and always - if obliquely - at themselves. At the same time, he reveals how deeply an obsession with race penetrated different facets of American life, from public memory to private fantasy. Concluding the book is a piece of historical detective work in which Reiss attempts to solve the puzzle of Heth's real identity before she met Barnum. His search yields a tantalizing connection between early mass culture and a slave's subtle mockery of her master."--Jacket.".
- catalog description ""In this compelling story about one of the nineteenth century's most famous Americans, Benjamin Reiss uses P.T. Barnum's Joice Heth hoax to examine the contours of race relations in the antebellum North. Barnum's first exhibit as a showman, Heth was an elderly enslaved woman who was said to be the 161-year-old former nurse of the infant George Washington. Seizing upon the novelty, the newly emerging commercial press turned her act - and especially her death - into one of the first media spectacles in American history."".
- catalog description "Includes bibliographical references (p. [227]-259) and index.".
- catalog extent "x, 267 p. ;".
- catalog hasFormat "Showman and the slave.".
- catalog identifier "0674006364".
- catalog isFormatOf "Showman and the slave.".
- catalog issued "2001".
- catalog issued "2001.".
- catalog language "eng".
- catalog publisher "Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press,".
- catalog relation "Showman and the slave.".
- catalog spatial "Northeastern States Race relations.".
- catalog spatial "United States".
- catalog spatial "United States.".
- catalog subject "306/.0973/09034 21".
- catalog subject "African Americans in popular culture History 19th century.".
- catalog subject "Barnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor), 1810-1891.".
- catalog subject "Death in popular culture United States History 19th century.".
- catalog subject "E165 .R36 2001".
- catalog subject "Freak shows Social aspects United States History 19th century.".
- catalog subject "Heth, Joice, -1836.".
- catalog subject "Popular culture United States History 19th century.".
- catalog subject "Racism in popular culture United States History 19th century.".
- catalog subject "Whites Race identity United States.".
- catalog subject "Women slaves United States Biography.".
- catalog title "The showman and the slave : race, death, and memory in Barnum's America / Benjamin Reiss.".
- catalog type "text".