The Wonders
Lifting the Curtain on the Freak Show, Circus and Victorian Age
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The Wonders
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Narrated by:
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Gavin Osborn
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By:
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John Woolf
About this listen
The Wonders is a radical new history of the Victorian age: meet the forgotten and extraordinary freak performers whose talents and disabilities helped define an era.
On 23 March, 1844, General Tom Thumb, at 25 inches tall, entered the Picture Gallery at Buckingham Palace and bowed low to Queen Victoria.
On both sides of the Atlantic, this meeting marked a tipping point in the 19th century - the age of the freak was born.
Bewitching all levels of society, it was a world of astonishing spectacle - of dwarfs, giants, bearded ladies, Siamese twins and swaggering showmen - and one that has since inspired countless novels, films and musicals.
But the real stories (human dramas that so often eclipsed the fantasy presented on the stage) of the performing men, women and children have been forgotten or marginalised in the histories of the very people who exploited them.
In this richly evocative account, Dr John Woolf uses a wealth of recently discovered material to bring to life the sometimes tragic, sometimes triumphant, always extraordinary stories of people who used their (dis)abilities and difference to become some of the first international celebrities.
And through their lives we discover afresh some of the great transformations of the age: the birth of show business, of celebrity, of advertising, of 'alternative facts'; while also exploring the tensions between the power of fame, the impact of exploitation and our fascination with 'otherness'.
©2019 John Woolf (P)2019 Audible, LtdListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"A promising young historian with a taste for the exotic." (Stephen Fry)
What listeners say about The Wonders
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- papapownall
- 03-11-20
Roll up for the different, weird and the wonderful
John Woolf has written a startling book about the history of Victorian freak shows telling the incredible stories of some of the unfortunate exhibits and how many of them were exploited for financial gain. Many of the dwarfs, giants, conjoined twins and disfigured people were considered to be "deviations of nature" and "living curiosities" who were paraded at circus side shows for the amusement and delight of the paying public. Some of the "unfortunates" however, including Leicester's giant Daniel Lambert and Charles Stratton's General Tom Thumb character managed to forge their own successful careers as showmen in their own right.
Queen Victoria herself was a fan of the freaks and this royal patronage apparently did much to popularise their appeal, until that is, the more enlightened age of the 20th century when other forms of entertainment prevailed. The freaks then became the realm of the medical profession who themselves took delight in exhibiting as biological curiosities which was equally as degrading and humiliating as the freak shows themselves.
We retain a fascination of the weird and the wonderful today through films depicting the lives of Barnum and the Elephant Man John Merrick, through our TV screens on shows such as Jeremy Kyle and Britain's Got Talent and, of course, books such as this.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Old Walrus Face.
- 22-08-23
Victorian non-p.c. fascination with the unusual
This audio book is a very interesting well read insight into Victorian's fascination with Tom Thumb , conjoined twins and the other unusual people paraded before the masses for their entertainment.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- DF
- 09-12-19
A wonderful book!
Well-researched and tastefully written, a true tapestry of wonderful individuals who lived exceptional lives. Highly recommend!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mike Woolf
- 04-10-19
Wonderful wonders
This is a wonderful book. serious research but entirely readable. It brings stereotyped figures to life in powerful ways
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Alison Harrower
- 20-09-20
very interesting and detailed
really enjoyed this and the sympathetic and appropriate use of language to describe the evolution of the "freak" show
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Sadie
- 21-06-21
Boring and repetitive
A dull book about a fascinating moment in time presented in a tediously boring way.
If you bought it to learn about the “freaks” then you might be as disappointed as I was in the delivery. More about dates, leaflets and showmen( yawn) than the actual people. I was so bored with this book that I marked it as having been read when I was halfway through. Don’t waste your life listening to this.
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1 person found this helpful