Battle for the Big Top

Battle for the Big Top PDF Author: Les Standiford
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1541762266
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
“Les Standiford takes us under the big top and behind the curtain in this richly researched and thoroughly engaging narrative that captures all of the entrepreneurial intrigue and spirit of the American circus.” —Gilbert King, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Devil in the Grove Millions have sat under the “big top,” watching as trapeze artists glide and clowns entertain, but few know the captivating stories behind the men whose creativity, ingenuity, and determination created one of our country’s most beloved pastimes. In Battle for the Big Top, New York Times–bestselling author Les Standiford brings to life a remarkable era when three circus kings—James Bailey, P. T. Barnum, and John Ringling—all vied for control of the vastly profitable and influential American Circus. Ultimately, the rivalry of these three men resulted in the creation of an institution that would surpass all intentions and, for 147 years, hold a nation spellbound. Filled with details of their ever-evolving showmanship, business acumen, and personal magnetism, this Ragtime-like narrative will delight and enchant circus-lovers and anyone fascinated by the American experience.

Battle for the Big Top

Battle for the Big Top PDF Author: Les Standiford
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1541762266
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 310

Get Book Here

Book Description
“Les Standiford takes us under the big top and behind the curtain in this richly researched and thoroughly engaging narrative that captures all of the entrepreneurial intrigue and spirit of the American circus.” —Gilbert King, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Devil in the Grove Millions have sat under the “big top,” watching as trapeze artists glide and clowns entertain, but few know the captivating stories behind the men whose creativity, ingenuity, and determination created one of our country’s most beloved pastimes. In Battle for the Big Top, New York Times–bestselling author Les Standiford brings to life a remarkable era when three circus kings—James Bailey, P. T. Barnum, and John Ringling—all vied for control of the vastly profitable and influential American Circus. Ultimately, the rivalry of these three men resulted in the creation of an institution that would surpass all intentions and, for 147 years, hold a nation spellbound. Filled with details of their ever-evolving showmanship, business acumen, and personal magnetism, this Ragtime-like narrative will delight and enchant circus-lovers and anyone fascinated by the American experience.

The Big Tent

The Big Tent PDF Author: Gregory J. Renoff
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
ISBN: 0820344370
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
For many people, the circus, with its clowns, exotic beasts, and other colorful iconography, is lighthearted entertainment. Yet for Greg Renoff and other scholars, the circus and its social context also provide a richly suggestive repository of changing attitudes about race, class, religion, and consumerism. In the South during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, traveling circuses fostered social spaces where people of all classes and colors could grapple with the region’s upheavals. The Big Tent relates the circus experience from the perspectives of its diverse audiences, telling what locals might have seen and done while the show was in town. Renoff digs deeper, too. He points out, for instance, that the performances of these itinerant outfits in Jim Crow-era Georgia allowed boisterous, unrestrained interaction between blacks and whites on show lots and on city streets on Circus Day. Renoff also looks at encounters between southerners and the largely northern population of circus owners, promoters, and performers, who were frequently accused of inciting public disorder and purveying lowbrow prurience, in part due to residual anger over the Civil War. By recasting itself as a showcase of athleticism, equestrian skill, and God’s wondrous animal creations, the circus appeased community leaders, many of whose businesses prospered during circus visits. Ranging across a changing social, cultural, and economic landscape, The Big Tent tells a new history of what happened when the circus came to town, from the time it traveled by wagon and river barge through its heyday during the railroad era and into its initial decline in the age of the automobile and mass consumerism.

My Town

My Town PDF Author: Rebecca Treays
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780746030660
Category : Cities and towns
Languages : en
Pages : 24

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Book Description
Treays looks at life in a town through the e yes of Ted, a young boy, and introduces the basic concepts o f human and social geography. Fold-out pages reveal cross-se ctions of buildings, and help to encourage map-reading skill s '

My Life Under the Big Top

My Life Under the Big Top PDF Author: Rev. David K. Fly
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1543424961
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 98

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Book Description
In his book, My Life Under the Big Top, the Rev. David Fly shares his lifes journey as a standup comedian, a professional television clown, and an Episcopal priest. The three roles became increasingly intertwined throughout his life. The big top of the circus came to represent for him the church with its sense of wonder and mysterya world from which no one is excluded. The role of the clown and the Christian is to play Stan Laurel to the worlds Oliver Hardy, exposing the folly of pretense and the vanity of pride. The book is both a memoir and a theological reflection.

A Little Bit of Sunshine

A Little Bit of Sunshine PDF Author: Sandra E. COLLINS
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 0557064902
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
This is a compilation of poems, a mixture of soft and romantic writes, along with a casting of spiritual poems.

Everybody's

Everybody's PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : American periodicals
Languages : en
Pages : 1078

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Book Description


My Town

My Town PDF Author: William Wegman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780439133364
Category : City and town life
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Searching for a topic for his school report, Chip goes into town where he visits the library, the grocery store, a construction site and more, hoping he will be inspired. Photographs show the characters depicted as dogs.

The Biggest Game in Town

The Biggest Game in Town PDF Author: Al Alvarez
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408806630
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
Since its first publication twenty years ago, The Biggest Game in Town has become a sought-after cult classic. Acclaimed writer and critic Al Alvarez delves into the murky and compelling world of high-stakes Vegas poker, where 'the next best thing to playing and winning is playing and losing'. Uncovering an exotic underground rich in ambiance and eccentricity, The Biggest Game in Town is a real one of a kind, deftly capturing the skewed psyches and peculiar rites of professional poker players who descend every year for the World Series of Poker. It's a world that seems almost too surprising and bizarre to be true. 'A cool, precise, sharply witty, vivid evocation of a place and people, their appearances, behaviour and speech..Mr Alvarez is a shrewd analyst of the psychology of gamblers and a cleverly selective recorder of their bizarre talk with which, directly and indirectly, they reveal their secure grasp of unreality and their insane courage' Sunday Telegraph 'It will have most readers sitting on the edge of their seats' Sunday Times 'A new classic on gambling...it's quite brilliant' Time Out 'This is a magnificent book. Beyond the straights and full houses, Alvarez has written about people who are extremely good at what they do, and about America' San Francisco Chronicle

Town Journal

Town Journal PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 1020

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Book Description


Collier's Once a Week

Collier's Once a Week PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description