Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body (1996) by Rosemarie Garland Thomson (Editor) Review by 'Madison'

Looking for something a little different with regards to aspects of American mass culture? Then you may well love this book. Freakery takes you on an amazing journey into cultural studies quite unlike any other. The book is essentially broken up into six main categories: I. The Cultural Construction of Freaks. II. Practices of Enfreakment. III.Exhibiting Coporeal Freaks. IV. Exhibiting Cultural Freaks. V. Textual uses of Freaks and finally VI. Relocations of the Freak Show. Each of these sections is then broken up into sections, this makes it simple to find a particular area. Along with this contents at the front of the book, their is also an 'illustrations' page that lists all of the illustrations used throughout, though this isn't overly informative it does help you get straight to them if you're a more visual person. The pictures themselves are very interesting, many of them historical (example: Barnum & Bailey Sideshow peoples, Artworks including old 'freakshow' advertising and oil paintings).

The overall format of the book is written in a way that could be interesting if read cover to cover OR merely thumbed through, reading only certain aspects that might be of interest. The addition of many pictures helps to relay exactly what it is the author is trying to get across but the way in which it's written is fluid and simple to understand also. The Author covers a huge span of time from the original freak show in antiquity to the modern period, she explores the constitutive, political, and textual properties of such exhibits.

All in all a completely absorbing and interesting read. I should also mention the price, at around £20 this book (in my opinion) is an absolute bargain. It's a whopping 400 pages AND it's no small tomb. If you have any interest in this area at all you can't go wrong with this book.