Download or read book The Greatest Shows on Earth written by Linda Simon and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2014-11-12 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beautifully illustrated and filled with rich historical detail and colorful anecdotes, this is a vibrant history for all those who have ever dreamed of running away to the circus, now in paperback. “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 the streets in costumes of glitter and gold, this captivating book illuminates the history of the circus and the claim it has on the imaginations of artists, writers, and people around the world. Traveling back to the circus’s early days, Linda Simon takes us to eighteenth-century hippodromes in Great Britain and intimate one-ring circuses in nineteenth-century Paris, where Toulouse-Lautrec and Picasso became enchanted with aerialists and clowns. She introduces us to P. T. Barnum, James Bailey, and the enterprising Ringling Brothers and reveals how they created the golden age of American circuses. Moving forward to the whimsical Circus Oz in Australia and to New York City’s Big Apple Circus and the grand spectacle of Cirque du Soleil, she shows how the circus has transformed in recent years. At the center of the story are the people—trick riders and tightrope walkers, sword swallowers and animal trainers, contortionists and clowns—that created the sensational, raucous, and sometimes titillating world of the circus.
Download or read book The Circus Age written by Janet M. Davis and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2003-10-15 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A century ago, daily life ground to a halt when the circus rolled into town. Across America, banks closed, schools canceled classes, farmers left their fields, and factories shut down so that everyone could go to the show. In this entertaining and provocative book, Janet Davis links the flowering of the early-twentieth-century American railroad circus to such broader historical developments as the rise of big business, the breakdown of separate spheres for men and women, and the genesis of the United States' overseas empire. In the process, she casts the circus as a powerful force in consolidating the nation's identity as a modern industrial society and world power. Davis explores the multiple "shows" that took place under the big top, from scripted performances to exhibitions of laborers assembling and tearing down tents to impromptu spectacles of audiences brawling, acrobats falling, and animals rampaging. Turning Victorian notions of gender, race, and nationhood topsy-turvy, the circus brought its vision of a rapidly changing world to spectators--rural as well as urban--across the nation. Even today, Davis contends, the influence of the circus continues to resonate in popular representations of gender, race, and the wider world.
Download or read book Battle for the Big Top written by Les Standiford and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2021-06-15 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Les Standiford takes us under the big top and behind the curtain in this richly researched and thoroughly engaging narrative that captures all of the entrepreneurial intrigue and spirit of the American circus.” —Gilbert King, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Devil in the Grove Millions have sat under the “big top,” watching as trapeze artists glide and clowns entertain, but few know the captivating stories behind the men whose creativity, ingenuity, and determination created one of our country’s most beloved pastimes. In Battle for the Big Top, New York Times–bestselling author Les Standiford brings to life a remarkable era when three circus kings—James Bailey, P. T. Barnum, and John Ringling—all vied for control of the vastly profitable and influential American Circus. Ultimately, the rivalry of these three men resulted in the creation of an institution that would surpass all intentions and, for 147 years, hold a nation spellbound. Filled with details of their ever-evolving showmanship, business acumen, and personal magnetism, this Ragtime-like narrative will delight and enchant circus-lovers and anyone fascinated by the American experience.
Download or read book A History of the Circus written by George Speaight and published by London : Tantivy Press ; San Diego : A.S. Barnes. This book was released on 1980 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A History of the Circus in America written by George Leonard Chindahl and published by . This book was released on 1959 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Fall of the Big Top written by David Lewis Hammarstrom and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2022-11-23 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Once an eagerly awaited spectacle, the traveling circus--that miracle of red wagons, trumpeting elephants and spangled trapeze artists that slipped into town at dawn and disappeared by midnight--has all but vanished from the American landscape. This work explores circus history from 1793 to the present and addresses the forces of modern culture (such as the popularity of Cirque du Soleil, and pressure from the animal rights movement) that are pushing big top shows toward what the author calls "circus ballet." Numerous photographs and in-depth interviews conducted with show owners, performers and directors enrich the narrative. Overall, the book reveals a sobering contrast between circuses of yesterday and today, even as it honors the outstanding performers who created, and have sustained, the enduring appeal of the circus.
Download or read book The New American Circus written by Ernest J. Albrecht and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 1970s a group of men and women with few ties to the circus emerged from the counterculture revolution and took to the streets, where they discovered how to entertain an audience. At a time when the Big Top was beset by shabby excess, escalating costs, and competition from movies and TV, the young performers dedicated themselves to skill and intimacy, beginning the movement Ernest Albrecht describes as the "new American circus", a reinvention of the circus as an authentic form of art. The first - and most radical - aspect of this movement was its revival of the traditions of the great one-ring shows of Europe and Russia. Focusing on artistry, not spectacle, the new American circus incorporated such allied arts as music and dance and embraced a notion of ensemble that was compatible with the communal ethic of the seventies. Working from interviews and other primary sources, Albrecht traces this history to the present (including current controversies over animal performers and efforts to secure subsidies), sketching the leading players in the new circus and profiling the shows they founded.
Download or read book Step Right Up written by LaVahn G. Hoh and published by Betterway Books. This book was released on 1990 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes all aspects of the circus and the evolution of every act from its beginnings to today's performances. With more than 300 photographs.
Download or read book Clowns and Cannons written by William L. Slout and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 1997-01-01 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of the survival of American circuses throughout one of the most perilous periods in our nation's history: 1860-1865. This was a period of transition for traveling exhibitions. The size of equipment and personnel had leveled off, performances were fixed, and the number of proprietors had reached a peak that would not be exceeded until the early 1870s. But still the show had to go on! Complete with notes, index, bibliography, and contemporaneous illustrations.
Download or read book Circus written by Rupert Croft-Cooke and published by London : Elek. This book was released on 1976 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An illustrated historical account of the circus's origins and development and of its lore and legends, describing acts and performers from the Circus Maximus to Madison Square Garden.
Download or read book Two Hundred Years of the American Circus written by Tom Ogden and published by . This book was released on 1993-01-01 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Identifies circus performers, famous acts, and animal stars, explains circus terms, and provides summaries of movies, television shows, and musicals featuring the circus
Download or read book The Amazing American Circus Poster written by Kristin L. Spangenberg and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Amazing American Circus Poster: The Strobridge Lithographing Company is published to accompany the exhibition "The Amazing American Circus Poster: The Strobridge Lithographing Company," held at the Cincinnati Art Museum from February 26 to July 10, 2011, and The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art from September 17, 2011, to January 29, 2012."
Download or read book The Circus in America written by Charles Philip Fox and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book History of Circus in America written by John Hurdle and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Random Notes on the History of the Early American Circus written by Robert William Glenroie Vail and published by . This book was released on 1956 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The American Circus written by Wilton Eckley and published by Boston : Twayne Publishers. This book was released on 1984 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A History of the Circus in America Etc Second Printing written by George Leonard CHINDAHL and published by . This book was released on 1959 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
