Step right up : stories of carnivals, sideshows and the circus / edited by Nathaniel Knaebel.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Knaebel, Nathaniel.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Circus.

Carnivals.

Sideshows.

Physical Description:

x, 326 pages ; 23 cm

Edition:

First Carroll and Graf edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, N.Y. : Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2004.

Summary:

Everyone loves a carnival, whether it's the Big Top at its finest hour or a traveling midway kicking up dust just a few days after settling in. These roving extravaganzas are as amusing as they are mysterious and as innocent as they are sordid. Step Right Up collects the finest literature and the most absorbing testimonials and first-person accounts about carnivals, sideshows, and the circus, capturing all of the spectacle and sensation of this unusual and treasured tradition. A colorful assortment of characters populate the fairgrounds and circus tents of this unique collection from circus legends like P.T. Barnum and Otis Jordan the Frog Prince to a motley crew of ride monkeys and rubes. Step Right Up takes the reader everywhere from a small village in Romania to the streets of Coney Island and offers everything from Fred Rosen's account of the scandalous demise of Grady "Lobster Boy" Stiles Jr. to imaginative fiction like Michael Chabon's macabre take on the origin of clowns.

ISBN:

0786713321

OCLC:

54999999