Greatest Shows on Earth
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A01=Linda Simon
acrobat
Ada Costello
Al G. Barnes Circus
American
Amphitheater
Antony Hippisley Cox
Archaos
arena
Author_Linda Simon
Barnum
Barnum & Bailey Circus
Big Apple Circus
bigtop
Bill Irwin
Billy Smart
Carl Hagenbeck
carnivals
Category=ATXC
Category=NHB
Category=NHTB
cavalcade
Chang Woo Gow
Charles Blondin
Charles Dickens
Charlie Chaplin
circus
Circus Knie
Circus Oz
Cirque
Cirque d'Hiver
Cirque du Soleil
Cirque Imaginaire
Cirque Invisible
Cirque Medrano
Cirque Napoleon
Cirque Plume
Clark & Sons
clown college
clowns
Clowns Without Borders
Clyde Beatty
Colleano
commedia dell'arte
contortionists
Dan Rice
Duncan Wall
Ecole Nationale des Arts du Cirque
Edward Hoagland
Enrico Rastelli
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
equestrians
equestriennes
Eudora Welty
Fernando
Gentry Bros
Great London Circus
Grock
high wire
hippodrome
horses
Howe's Great London Circus
Hugo Zacchini
human arrow
human cannonball
iron jaw
Jacques Tati
James Tissot
Jean-Gaspard Deburau
John Astley
Joseph Grimaldi
juggler
juggling
Karl Wallenda
Kelly Emmett
Lillian Leitzel
Louise Hilton
Mabel Stark
Madison Square Garden
Marcel Marceau
marquee
Mel Gussow
menagerie
Mighty Ha
Mighty Haag Circus
Millie-Christine McCoy
Miss Lala
monkey
net
nouveau cirque
Olga Kaira
Pansy Zedora
Paul Legrand
Pauline Violante
PETA
Philip Astley
Picasso
Pierrot
Pulcinella
Queen Victoria
Richard Riley
ring of fire
Ringling
Ringling Bros
Ringling Circus
roll up
Royal Circus
Sadler's Wells
saltimbanques
San Francisco Mime Troupe
San Francisco School of Circus Arts
Sells Brothers
Sells-Floto Circus
sword swallowers
tamer
tent
The Great Farini
tightrope
tightrope walker
Toulouse-Lautrec
trapeze
William Cameron Coup
Yankee Robinson
Zazel
Zingaro
Product details
- ISBN 9781789147032
- Dimensions: 171 x 220mm
- Publication Date: 01 Apr 2023
- Publisher: Reaktion Books
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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Now available in paperback, The Greatest Shows on Earth takes us from eighteenth-century hippodromes in Britain to intimate one-ring circuses in nineteenth-century Paris, where Toulouse-Lautrec and Picasso became enchanted by aerialists and clowns. We meet P. T. Barnum, James Bailey and the enterprising Ringling Brothers, who created the golden age of American circuses. We explore contemporary transformations of the circus, from the whimsical Circus Oz in Australia to New York City’s Big Apple Circus. Circus people are central to the story: trick riders and tightrope walkers, sword swallowers and animal trainers, contortionists and clowns – these are the men and women who create the sensational, raucous, titillating and incomparable world of the circus.
Beautifully illustrated, rich in historical detail and full of colourful anecdotes, Linda Simon’s vibrant history is as enchanting as a night at the big-top itself.
Linda Simon is Professor Emerita of English at Skidmore College, New York. Her many books include Coco Chanel (Reaktion, 2011) and Lost Girls: The Invention of the Flapper (Reaktion, 2014).
