Freaks: We Who are Not as Others

by Daniel P. Mannix

Other authorsKatherine Dunn (Introduction)

Paperback, 2000

Status

Available

Call number

790

Genres

Publication

Juno Publishing (2000), Edition: 2nd Revised edition, 120 pages

Description

Acheiving cult status almost immediately upon first publication in an early RE/Search edition, and out of print for many years, Juno is proud to announce the reprint of this infamous tome. Meet the strangest people who ever lived and read about the notorious love affairs of midgets, the strange sex lives of Siamese Twins, the mule faced woman whose son became her manager, the unusual amours of Jolly Daisy, the fat woman, the human torso who could sew, crochet and type - and many other bizarre accounts of normal humans turned into freaks, either voluntarily or by evil design!

User reviews

LibraryThing member stillbeing

I've had a fascination with old circus "freaks" since seing the Tod Browning film "Freaks" when I was about 13 years old . . . This book really brings those old characters back to life with a great amount of respect. The author, previously a sword-swallower himself, relates many tales back from his

side-show days allowing you a rare insight and allowing you to feel almost as if you know these people personally.

To me, these are real heros - the majority were dealt a terrible hand at birth, and yet many of them have been able to make a decent life for themselves and enjoy more happiness, it seems, than many people today. Not all stories in this book have happy endings, as there certainly have been many unhappy tales, but both are here, side by side on equal measure. Far from exploitative, this book is really worth the read for anyone with an interest in other lives in other times.

Show Less