The Circus Age: Culture and Society under the American Big Top - Hardcover

Davis, Janet M.

3.93

118 ratings by Goodreads

9780807827246: The Circus Age: Culture and Society under the American Big Top

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080782724X ISBN 13: 9780807827246

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002

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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. |Davis examines the history and cultural significance of circuses and Wild West shows in turn-of-the-century America.

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Review:

YA fascinating, provocative history of a democratic form of public entertainment. ("Publishers Weekly") [A] fascinating, provocative history of a democratic form of public entertainment. ("Publishers Weekly")

Synopsis:

This volume explores the development of the early 20th-century railroad circus against 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. It casts the circus as a powerful force in consolidating the nation's identity as a modern industrial society and world power. It goes on to view the many shows that took place under the big top, from scripted performances to exhibitions of labourers to acrobats falling and animals rampaging. Turning Victorian notions of gender, race and nationhood on their head, the circus brought its vision of a rapidly changing world to spectators, both rural and urban, across the nation. This book suggests that even today the influence of the circus continues to resonate in popular representations of gender, race, and the wider world.

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