Circus Life

Performing and Laboring Under America's Big Top Shows, 1830-1920

By: Micah D. Childress

Narrated by: Scott Carrico

Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

The 19th century saw the American circus move from a reviled and rejected form of entertainment to the “Greatest Show on Earth.” Circus Life by Micah D. Childress looks at this transition from the perspective of the people who owned and worked in circuses and how they responded to the new incentives that rapid industrialization made possible.

The circus has long been a subject of fascination for many, as evidenced by the millions of Americans that have attended circus performances over many decades since 1870, when the circus established itself as a truly unique entertainment enterprise. Yet the few analyses of the circus that do exist have only examined the circus as its own closed microcosm - the “circus family.” Circus Life, on the other hand, places circus employees in the larger context of the history of US workers and corporate America. Focusing on the circus as a business-entertainment venture, Childress pushes the scholarship on circuses to new depths, examining the performers, managers, and laborers’ lives and how the circus evolved as it grew in popularity over time. Beginning with circuses in the antebellum era, Childress examines changes in circuses as gender balances shifted, industrialization influenced the nature of shows, and customers and crowds became increasingly more middle-class.

As a study in sport and social history, Childress’s account demonstrates how the itinerant nature of the circus drew specific types of workers and performers, and how the circus was internally in constant upheaval due to the changing profile of its patrons and a changing economy.

The book is published by University of Tennessee Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

©2018 The University of Tennessee Press (P)2019 Redwood Audiobooks

Not really about circus life

The book should of been called circus politics, scandals, advertisements and lawsuits. Not really about cicus life, I guess I got swindled by a advertising kinker and I was the rube.