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Author
Language
English
Description
William L. Slout, circus historian par excellence, here provides six essays on the development of the American circus. "From Rags to Ricketts: The Roots of Circus in Early Gotham" looks at the beginnings of circus entertainment in old New York City during the eighteenth century. "The Great Roman Hippodrome of 1874: P. T. Barnum's 'Crowning Effort'" describes the great showman's grand experiment: the collection and display in the Big Apple of the "largest...
Author
Language
English
Description
William L. Slout, entertainment historian par excellence, here provides five fascinating essays on the development of the American traveling circus in the post-Civil War era: "En Route to the Great Eastern Circus" (on the creation of this great show); "The Great Eastern Circus of 1872" (more details about one of P. T. Barnum's rivals); "The Not-So-Great Trans-Atlantic Circus and Menagerie" (how a show failed suddenly in a yellow fever epidemic); "What...
Author
Physical Desc
296 pages : color illustrations ; 23 cm
Language
English
Description
Step right up! and buy a ticket to the Greatest Show on Earth - the Big Top, containing death-defying stunts, dancing bears, roaring tigers, and trumpeting elephants. The circus has always been home to the dazzling and the exotic, the improbable and the impossible -a place of myth and romance, of reinvention, rebirth, second acts, and new identities. Asking why we long to soar on flying trapezes, ride bareback on spangled horses, and parade through...
Author
Physical Desc
vii, 231 pages : illustrations ; 27 cm
Language
English
Description
"Explores circus history from 1793 to the present and addresses the cultural forces pushing big top shows toward "circus ballet." Numerous photographs and in-depth interviews conducted with show owners, performers and directors reveal a contrast between circuses of yesterday and today, and honor the outstanding performers who created and sustained the appeal of the circus"--Provided by publisher.
Author
Physical Desc
376 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), portraits ; 24 cm
Language
English
Description
A radical new history that rediscovers the remarkable freak performers whose talents and charisma helped define an era.
On March 23, 1844, General Tom Thumb, just 25 inches tall, entered the Picture Gallery at Buckingham Palace and bowed low to Queen Victoria. This meeting marked a tipping point in the nineteenth century, and the age of the freak was born. Dwarfs, giants, bearded ladies, Siamese twins, and swaggering showmen-- it was a world of spectacle....
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