The Humbugs of the World

The Humbugs of the World is a book by Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-1891), published in 1865. The book catalogues and analyzes various forms of fraud, deception, and humbug that Barnum had observed across his long career as American showman, promoter, and businessman.

Barnum himself had been associated with various forms of theatrical humbug across his showman career. His display of Joice Heth as the supposed 161-year-old nurse of George Washington, the Fiji Mermaid hoax, and various other Barnum promotions had blurred the line between honest entertainment and outright fraud in ways that contemporary observers had often criticized. The Humbugs of the World addresses the question of where the line falls and what distinguishes legitimate entertainment showmanship from genuine fraud.

Barnum draws on his extensive personal knowledge of the American showman business and on his broader observation of various American commercial and religious humbugs of the mid nineteenth century. The book includes treatments of spiritualism, of various religious humbugs, of financial frauds, and of the broader culture of misrepresentation that nineteenth century American commercial life generated.