History 103D (Fall 2017)

Andres Dongo

October 1, 2017

RR #4

In Freak Show, Robert Bogdan argues that the term Freak is a way of thinking, a social

construction, of how disabled/special individuals were presented and valued. Other

arguments he develops are the differences between how society see disabled people in

the nineteenth century and today; and how the medical development to classify

disabilities as abnormalities change the perspective of the audience from amusement

and entertainment to pity, leading to the decay of the Freak show. I believe Bogdan gets

to defend his argument by analyzing the modes of presentation of this individuals but it

does not feel as a complete or well structured defense is rather a vast analysis of

performers, presentation and venues. The sources used in this book are a combination

of primary and secondary sources that cover from performers diaries, news articles,

academic research and medical journals. What i learned about this book as a research

method is that not following a history line and going through categories can weaken the

central argument specially if the argument has a comparison of present versus past.

I personally using this book as an odd marketing strategy book. The strategies used by

the venue owners, managers and even the performers are great material because of

the different ways of sell a similar experience as is the amusement of the exotic and

different.