This is the true story of two African-American brothers who were kidnapped (or were they?) and exhibited as circus freaks. In 1899, in the small Jim Crow South town of Truevine, Virginia, Willie and George Muse were two little boys who had a very unusual appearance. Taken into the circus, they would be shown to audiences around the world. Their mother, however, spent 28 years trying to get them back, never accepting that they were truly gone from her.
This is a fascinating story. Beyond the story of the Muse brothers, this book explores society, attitudes towards race, history, economics, and more. The author obviously spent a lot of time speaking to people and doing research, and there is a detailed notes section included in the book. The author spent years doing research and doing hundreds of interviews, and includes so much historical detail that you feel like you are there, in Truevine.
I was familiar with the Muse brothers, although I only knew them as "Eko and Iko," and didn't know much else about them. It was fascinating to read about who they were, as real people (and not just their lives touring), and also to understand the context of what life was like in Truevine, as well as the rest of America at the time. I liked how the author obviously cared very much about the brothers, and understanding what had happened to them, and how their experiences affected their family. This is one of those books where I was marking pages with tape flags and was making notes along the way.
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| George and Willie Muse |
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