In the early 1900s, premature babies were dismissed as “nature’s mistakes.” Hospitals refused to treat them. Doctors said they couldn’t survive.

But one unlikely showman saw hope where others saw tragedy. Inspired by a strange invention he once glimpsed at a world’s fair, he set up rows of glass incubators—right in the middle of Coney Island’s boardwalk. Visitors paid admission to see fragile newborns clinging to life, and those nickels and quarters kept the babies alive.

Critics scoffed, calling it a sideshow. Parents called it salvation. By the time the exhibit ended in 1943, this unlikely “doctor” had saved more than 7,000 infants—and changed medicine forever.

This is the astonishing true story of Martin Couney, the showman who proved that compassion can change the course of history.

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