
During its heyday the American circus was the largest show-biz industry the world had ever seen. From the mid-1800s to mid-1900s traveling American circuses performed for audiences of up to 14 000 per show & crisscrossed the country on 20 000 miles of railroad in one season alone. The spectacle of death-defying daredevils & strapping super-heroes gripped the American imagination outshining theater comedy & minstrel shows of the day & ultimately paving the way for film & television. The circus offered young Americans the dream of adventure & reinvention. This book brings to life the grit & glamour of the circus phenomenon. Images include photographic gems by early circus photographers Frederick Whitman Glasier & Edward Kelty many of the earliest color photographs ever taken of the circus from the 1940s & 1950s iconic circus photographs by Mathew Brady or Cornell Capa & little-known circus images by Stanley Kubrick & Charles & Ray Eames. For the first time contemporary readers can experience the legend of the American circus in all its glory.