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Lead book review

Roll up, roll up! A history of the circus from Ancient Egypt to the present

A review of The Greatest Shows on Earth by Linda Simon reports that female acrobats as well as freaks were considered ‘liberated’ by the Victorian circus

13 December 2014

9:00 AM

13 December 2014

9:00 AM

The Greatest Shows on Earth: A History of the Circus Linda Simon

Reaktion, pp.296, £29, ISBN: 9781780233581

Linda Simon’s compact and colourful circus history is, in many ways, a jewel of a publication. It is hard to say anything new about the circus because almost impossible to uncover quotes and stories that cannot be found in other books. The circus itself — disregarding the circus of ancient Rome — is a modern form and so the stock of images available for this type of illustrated history is quite limited and well known.

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