In the Shadow of the Big Top
In the Shadow of the Big Top

Author: Maureen Brunsdale

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2023-05-10

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 1538172119

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A thrilling behind-the-scenes biography of the Ringling brothers’ chief henchman. Art Concello wasn’t born into the circus. But he was in the right place at the right time, becoming one of the world’s best trapeze artists before transforming himself into a shrewd circus businessman. In the Shadow of the Big Top: The Life of Ringling's Unlikely Circus Savior details Concello’s fateful path from flyer, to manager, to owner. Against the backdrop of the golden age of the American circus, this book goes beyond the showmanship displayed in the ring to reveal how the circus could both thrill a crowd and make incredible money—and exposes the human toll extracted for doing so. Maureen Brunsdale not only tells Art’s incredible life story, but also that of his wife, an orphan-turned-acrobat who was determined to never be left behind in a career every bit as terrifying and electrifying as her husband’s. The first-ever biography of Concello, In the Shadow of the Big Top draws back the curtain on the inner workings of the circus and casts a light on the man who shaped not only Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, but the circus industry as a whole.

In The Shadow Of The Banyan
In The Shadow Of The Banyan

Author: Vaddey Ratner

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2012-09-13

Total Pages: 436

ISBN-13: 1849837619

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A stunning, powerful debut novel set against the backdrop of the Cambodian War, perfect for fans of Chris Cleave and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie For seven-year-old Raami, the shattering end of childhood begins with the footsteps of her father returning home in the early dawn hours bringing details of the civil war that has overwhelmed the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. Soon the family's world of carefully guarded royal privilege is swept up in the chaos of revolution and forced exodus. Over the next four years, as she endures the deaths of family members, starvation, and brutal forced labour, Raami clings to the only remaining vestige of childhood - the mythical legends and poems told to her by her father. In a climate of systematic violence where memory is sickness and justification for execution, Raami fights for her improbable survival. Displaying the author's extraordinary gift for language, In the Shadow of the Banyanis testament to the transcendent power of narrative and a brilliantly wrought tale of human resilience. 'In the Shadow of the Banyanis one of the most extraordinary and beautiful acts of storytelling I have ever encountered' Chris Cleave, author of The Other Hand 'Ratner is a fearless writer, and the novel explores important themes such as power, the relationship between love and guilt, and class. Most remarkably, it depicts the lives of characters forced to live in extreme circumstances, and investigates how that changes them. To read In the Shadow of the Banyan is to be left with a profound sense of being witness to a tragedy of history' Guardian 'This is an extraordinary debut … as beautiful as it is heartbreaking' Mail on Sunday

The Big Smoke
The Big Smoke

Author: Adrian Matejka

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2013-05-28

Total Pages: 129

ISBN-13: 1101613084

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A suite of poems examining the myth and history of the legendary prizefighter Jack Johnson—a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award—from the author, with Youssef Daoudi, of the graphic novel Last on His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century The legendary Jack Johnson (1878–1946) was a true American creation. The child of emancipated slaves, he overcame the violent segregationism of Jim Crow, challenging white boxers—and white America—to become the first African-American heavyweight world champion. The Big Smoke, Adrian Matejka’s third work of poetry, follows the fighter’s journey from poverty to the most coveted title in sports through the multi-layered voices of Johnson and the white women he brazenly loved. Matejka’s book is part historic reclamation and part interrogation of Johnson’s complicated legacy, one that often misremembers the magnetic man behind the myth.

Under the Big Top
Under the Big Top

Author: Josh McMullen

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2015-02-25

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 0190266740

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Under the Big Top examines the immensely popular big tent revivals of turn-of-the-twentieth-century America and develops a new framework for understanding Protestantism in this transformative period of the nation's history. Contemporary critics of the revivalists often depicted them as anxious and outdated religious opponents of a modern, urban nation. Early historical accounts likewise portrayed tent revivalists as Victorian hold-outs, bent on re-establishing nineteenth-century values and religion in a new America. In this revisionist work, Josh McMullen argues that, contrary to these stereotypes, big tent revivalists actually participated in the shift away from Victorianism and helped in the construction of a new consumer culture in the United States. How did the United States became the most consumer-driven and yet one of the most religious societies in the western world? McMullen shows that revivalists and their audiences reconciled the Protestant ethic of salvation with the emerging consumer ethos by cautiously unlinking Christianity from Victorianism and joining it to the new, emerging consumer culture. Under the Big Top helps to explain the continued appeal of both the therapeutic and the salvific worldview to many Americans as well as the ambivalence that accompanies this combination.

In the Shadow of Blackbirds
In the Shadow of Blackbirds

Author: Cat Winters

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams

Published: 2014-10-07

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781419710230

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In this original, historical ghost story set in 1918, the year of the deadly Spanish influenza, 16-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to sances and spirit photographers for comfort. Mary's never believed in ghosts, until her first loveNa boy who died in battleNreturns.

Battle for the Big Top
Battle for the Big Top

Author: Les Standiford

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 2021-06-15

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 1541762266

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“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.

Big Top Burning
Big Top Burning

Author: Laura Woollett

Publisher: Chicago Review Press

Published: 2015-06-01

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 1613731140

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Big Top Burning investigates the 1944 Hartford circus fire and invites readers to take part in a critical evaluation of the evidence The fire broke out at 2:40 p.m. Thousands of men, women, and children were crowded under Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey's big top watching the Flying Wallendas begin their death-defying high-wire act. Suddenly someone screamed "Fire!" and the panic began. By 2:50 the tent had burned to the ground. Not everyone had made it out alive. With primary source documents and survivor interviews, Big Top Burning recounts the true story of the 1944 Hartford circus fire—one of the worst fire disasters in U.S. history. Its remarkable characters include Robert Segee, a 15-year-old circus roustabout and known pyromaniac, and the Cook children, Donald, Eleanor, and Edward, who were in the audience when the circus tent caught fire. Guiding readers through the investigations of the mysteries that make this moment in history so fascinating, this book asks: Was the unidentified body of a little girl nicknamed "Little Miss 1565" Eleanor Cook? Was the fire itself an act of arson—and did Robert Segee set it? Big Top Burning combines a gripping disaster story, an ongoing detective and forensics saga, and World War II–era American history, inviting middle-grades readers to take part in a critical evaluation of the evidence and draw their own conclusions.

Big Top Bandit
Big Top Bandit

Author: John Sazaklis

Publisher: Picture Window Books

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 33

ISBN-13: 1515883124

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Come one! Come all! Barnstorm's Big Top Circus is in town, and Scooby and the Mystery Inc. gang can't wait to see it! But thanks to the Ghost Clown, things under the big top are a big mess. Can Scooby-Doo and the gang put an end to all the funny business and save the circus? Find out in this early chapter book.

Big Top Boss
Big Top Boss

Author: David Hammarstrom

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 1994-01-15

Total Pages: 414

ISBN-13: 9780252064050

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This first balanced picture of circus king John Ringling North explored the remarkable career of the man who ran Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Baily for thirty years. David Lewis Hammarstrom details how North guided the circus through adversities ranging from depressions and wars to crippling labor strikes and rapidly changing trends in American entertainment. Hammarstrom interviewed a host of circus figures including North himself; his formers, directors, and department heads who were involved with the circus when North owned and operated it.

In the Shadow of Gotham
In the Shadow of Gotham

Author: Stefanie Pintoff

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Published: 2009-04-28

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 1429937335

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In the Shadow of Gotham is the winner of the 2010 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Dobson, New York, 1905. Detective Simon Ziele lost his fiancée in the General Slocum ferry disaster—a thousand perished on that summer day in 1904 when an onboard fire burned the boat down in the waters of the East River. Still reeling from the tragedy, Ziele transferred to a police department north of New York, to escape the city and all the memories it conjured. But only a few months into his new life in a quiet country town, he's faced with the most shocking homicide of his career to date: Young Sarah Wingate has been brutally murdered in her own bedroom in the middle of an otherwise calm and quiet winter afternoon. After just one day of investigation, Simon's contacted by Columbia University's noted criminologist Alistair Sinclair, who offers a startling claim about one of his patients, Michael Fromley—that the facts of the murder bear an uncanny resemblance to Fromley's deranged mutterings. But what would have led Fromley, with his history of violent behavior and brutal fantasies, to seek out Sarah, a notable mathematics student and a proper young lady who has little in common with his previous targets? Is Fromley really a murderer, or is someone mimicking him? This is what Simon Ziele must find out, with the help of the brilliant but self-interested Alistair Sinclair—before the killer strikes again. With this taut, atmospheric, and original story of a haunted man who must search for a killer while on the run from his own demons, Stefanie Pintoff's In the Shadow of Gotham marks the debut of an outstanding new talent, the inaugural winner of the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America Best First Crime Novel Competition.