Go to Special Sales HBG USA Home Special Sales HBG USA

Dan Rice

The Most Famous Man You've Never Heard Of

Dan Rice Open the full-size image

Contributors

By David Carlyon

Buy from Other Retailers:

On Sale
May 14, 2004
Page Count
528 pages
Publisher
PublicAffairs
ISBN-13
9781586482398

Dan Rice had many lives. He was a pig presenter, a strongman, a lecturer, and a comic singer, all before joining the dazzling world of the circus. In 1855, he created Dan Rice’s Great Show. Labeling himself the “Great American Humorist,” he toured the country and spoke out on issues of the day before large crowds. Swept up in a new cult of celebrity, he rose to become one of the most famous — and infamous — men in America. He even ran for president. So why have so few people ever heard of Dan Rice? Propelled by an urge toward “refinement,” American amusements began to stratify in the mid-19th century. The raucous antebellum jumble of performers, audiences, and forms split along a new performance hierarchy of high and low. Circus, though still vastly popular, became seen as lowbrow. In that changed world, Rice’s aggressive humor and robust connection with a noisy, participatory audience became seen as crude — and worse — a civic threat.

David Carlyon weaves a remarkably rich portrait of turbulent times that raised one ambitious, creative man to glorious heights and then, embarrassed by its enthusiasm, buried him in sentimentality and finally oblivion.

Genre:

Formats and Prices

Price

$25.99

Price

$33.99 CAD

Format

Trade Paperback

Format:

Trade Paperback $25.99 $33.99 CAD

You May Also Like

The Rebel Empresses
The Rebel Empresses $35.00 $46.00 CAD
Mirrors of Greatness
Mirrors of Greatness $32.50 $41.00 CAD
The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams
The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams $21.99 $27.99 CAD
Justinian
Justinian $35.00 $45.00 CAD
Uncommon Wrath
Uncommon Wrath $32.00 $40.00 CAD

David Carlyon

About the Author

After graduating from Clown College, David Carlyon toured three years with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He has since worked as an actor, director, playwright and university professor. He was in the Army, has a Ph.D. in Theatre from Northwestern University and holds a Berkeley law degree. He lives in Larchmont, New York with his wife and two sons.

Learn more about this author