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With Culture in Action the arts are brought to life! The varied titles in the Culture in Action series build up into a comprehensive library from which readers can choose their favourite arts topics. Each book contains activities with easy-to-follow instructions.

At the turn of the 20th century, the circus was the most popular form of American entertainment, and New York City was the hub of circus-related activity. Featuring superb archival photography, this book documents a wide variety of ephemera, images, and artifacts relating to the history of the circus in the city, from the seminal equestrian displays of the 18th century to the iconic railroad circuses of the late 19th century. Matthew Wittmann offers a thorough history of the circus in New York C...

A new biography of one of the key composers of 20th-century American popular song and jazz,Eubie Blake: Rags, Rhythm and Race illuminates Blake's little-known impact on over 100 years of American culture. A gifted musician, Blake rose from performing in dance halls and bordellos of his native Baltimore to the heights of Broadway. In 1921, together with performer and lyricist Noble Sissle, Blake created Shuffle Along which became a sleeper smash on Broadway eventually becoming one of the top ten...

This book takes a fun look at a typical week in the life of a circus performer. It is written in the form of a first-person diary and looks at some of the key skills that a circus performer needs and how they became a circus performer. The endmatter includes a spread on how readers can start their own diary.

Scary, funny, disturbing, fascinating... Since the nineteenth century, the figure of the clown has raised eyebrows. Tying in with Clowns Rock, the first global compilation of clowns as created by contemporary artists, illustrators and designers, this colouring book features illustrations of happy clowns, sad clowns, very bad clowns and all the faces of contemporary harlequins in 60 drawings that are easy to remove and perfect for display.

For a hundred years, the American circus was the largest show-biz industry the world had ever seen. During the heyday of the American circus from the mid-1800s to mid-1900s, traveling circuses performed for audiences of up to 10,000 per show, employed as many as 4,000 men and women, and crisscrossed the country on 20,000 miles of railroad in one season alone. The spectacle of death-defying daredevils, strapping super-heroes and scantily-clad starlets, fearless animal trainers, and startling frea...

Through Almost Perfect, Erika Lemay shares how she became world-famous by creating a career out of her passion - the acrobatic world of Physical Poetry. The gritty detail of a life in the spotlight is exposed - rebuilding herself after a fall that left one of her limbs compromised and challenged all she had aspired to be, avoiding child abusers in the show business world, and keeping her cool when the unpredictable happens 30 metres in the air. More than this, Erika explains the methodology be...

Extraordinary images of the circus in its heyday, from the rediscovered great American photographer This elegant new volume showcases the rediscovered work of the great American photographer Frederick W. Glasier (1866–1950), who made extraordinary photographs of the American circus during its heyday, 1890–1925. A contemporary of such recognized masters as Eugene Atget in Paris, August Sander in Cologne and Ernest J. Bellocq in New Orleans, Glasier is arguably in that class of the greatest pract...