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

Davis, Janet M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080782724X ISBN 13: 9780807827246

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Book Description:

"A fascinating book."-- New York Times

About the Author:

Janet M. Davis is associate professor of American studies and history at the University of Texas at Austin.

About this edition

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 080782724X
• ISBN 13: 9780807827246
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 360