Biography. Popular Culture. America's leading fire-eater recounts his life as a carny. Includes 58 photos from Mannix's private archive. A sympathetic and funny account of life with a carnival by a young man who impulsively joined up with one, mastered the elements of fire-eating and sword-swallowing in record time, and then rose, Horatio Alger-like, into the rarified company of neon-bulb swallowers...it's engrossing. -- The New Yorker.

Author City: MALVERN, PA USA

Daniel P. Mannix, now enjoying a cult revival, is the author of noir classics such as Those About to Die, The History of Torture, The Hell-fire Club, Memoirs of a Sword Swallower, The Beast (the first biography of Aleister Crowley to enjoy wide readership), and many other books. Up until his death in January 1997 at the age of 85, Mannix--a former sword-swallower, fire-eater, fakir and world traveler--lived on the family farm with his falcon, miniature horses and reptile collection.