Freaks: We who are not as others - Daniel P. Mannix
I want to begin this review with a quote.
"I am convinced that the only people worthy of consideration in this world are the unusual ones. For the common folk are like the leaves of a tree, and live and die unnoticed." -The Scarecrow of Oz, from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum
I'm not going to go into much detail about this book except to say it's a book about the type of people you used to see in circus freak shows. Midgets, dwarfs, people with limbs missing, folk with skin abnormalities, Siamese twins and so on.
The writer of this book considers himself to be a 'freak' and has many friends among the 'freak' community. It's a book I felt uncomfortable with reading at first but as you read it you realize that the people in this book are not the kind of people you see everyday, they got on with their lives very much the way we do. They worked, they married, they had children. Despite the fact that the majority of them worked in show business exhibiting themselves in freak shows they were thankful for the opportunity to make a good living and to be amongst people who knew what it was like to be different. These shows gave them a livelihood, companionship, self respect where otherwise they would have been thrown into institutions and never seen the light of day.
The book also brings home just what imperfection, sin and death can do to mankind at an extreme level and it will be so nice when such one are resurrected in the new system and have fully functional bodies. It does make for interesting reading but be warned, some of the pictures are a little shocking
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Freaks: We Who Are Not As Others
Daniel P. Mannix
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"I am convinced that the only people worthy of consideration in this world are the unusual ones. For the common folk are like the leaves of a tree, and live and die unnoticed." -The Scarecrow of Oz, from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum
I'm not going to go into much detail about this book except to say it's a book about the type of people you used to see in circus freak shows. Midgets, dwarfs, people with limbs missing, folk with skin abnormalities, Siamese twins and so on.
The writer of this book considers himself to be a 'freak' and has many friends among the 'freak' community. It's a book I felt uncomfortable with reading at first but as you read it you realize that the people in this book are not the kind of people you see everyday, they got on with their lives very much the way we do. They worked, they married, they had children. Despite the fact that the majority of them worked in show business exhibiting themselves in freak shows they were thankful for the opportunity to make a good living and to be amongst people who knew what it was like to be different. These shows gave them a livelihood, companionship, self respect where otherwise they would have been thrown into institutions and never seen the light of day.
The book also brings home just what imperfection, sin and death can do to mankind at an extreme level and it will be so nice when such one are resurrected in the new system and have fully functional bodies. It does make for interesting reading but be warned, some of the pictures are a little shocking
style="color:gray; font-size:x-large; font-family:verdana">lj book reviews
Freaks: We Who Are Not As Others
Daniel P. Mannix
make your own book badge | read lj reviews of this book