Performing Arts

During its more than 140 year history The Greatest Show on Earth has changed management twelve times, and each change has brought about an alteration in the style and content of the performance. This book chronicles those changes as the circus evolved from a lavish spectacle to a fully integrated theatre piece with an original score and script.

This volume explores how American culture, values, demography, and business practices altered the fundamental nature of the European circus, and how, by the end of the 19th century, they had transformed it into a distinctly American pastime. At the peak of its cultural significance, the circus was a sophisticated combination of theater and business, and made effective use of advertising, train travel, and hyperbole. The subjects in The American Circus reflect this complexity, ranging widely from thematic explorations of circus music and elephants to more closely focused studies of objects such as circus toys, souvenirs, and performers' costumes. The book also explores the dark and even nefarious side of the circus, and its associations with marginalized dimensions of American life and culture.

This work chronicles the history of the American circus from its roots in England through its importation to America to the end of the nineteenth century. It introduces the early pioneers of the circus, addresses business concerns such as management and training, and discusses the development of the show itself, including the incorporation of menageries, the need for animal training and care, the addition of circus music, the use of the tent, and the unique attractions of side shows and "freaks."