h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Curious Contradictions of PT Barnum, Showman and Philanthropist - A88016240
Author: Dmitri Gheorgheni - Not Banned in China - U1590784

People were talking about PT Barnum. Especially about the terribly disappointing musical about him. Why bother to make up boring stories when the real man was so interesting?

So here's an entry about PT Barnum. He's what you might call 'problematic', but his autobiography is highly entertaining.

Thank you for this - I have certainly heard a bit about PT Barnum, but learned a lot from this Entry.

Excellent choice of illustrations - they are all taken from the autobiography, I presume.

I had a few questions as I read:

"He made Charles Sherwood Stratton, aka General Tom Thumb, a wealthy man – and introduced him to his wife. " - is this clear about whose wife?

"by the 1880s he had sold at least 90.5 million tickets from his New York museums" - tickets from or tickets for?

"small tradespeople" - looks a bit funny - I wonder if it should be hyphenated or something to clarify that it isn't tradespeople who are small!

"He hired Grizzly Adams to display his animals." - 'display' or 'perform with'? Adams was the one who captured the California animals himself? What year did Adams become 'unwell'?

Fascinating juxtaposition of education and 'fake news' indeed...

Excellent

Hi, Sasha, thanks for giving this a read - I really appreciate the feedback. Those are all good points, although 'small tradespeople' is actually something they used to say. I think I can find a way around it, though.

Okay, see what you think. Rewritten!

And yes! The illustrations are all from the 1882 edition of the autobiography.

Do give that virtual tour a whirl - I've been in, and it's amazing.