Key players in the duo’s inner circle––Louis Mydlach, his security chief father Jim Mydlach, and show consultant Jimmy Lavery––finally unravel the untold story: the life of Siegfried & Roy was their ultimate illusion.

The book provides an innovative synthesis of the history of performance with a wider study of culture, science, and religion from the antebellum period to the present.

An exciting history of gladiators, chariot racing and other Roman games, investigating their function and significance within society, and what they reveal about the Roman mentality.

Robert Bogdan’s fascinating social history brings to life the world of the freak show and explores the culture that nurtured and, later, abandoned it.

American Sideshow chronicles the lives of truly amazing performers, examining these brave and extraordinary curiosities not just as sideshow performers but as people, delving into the lives they led and the ways they were able to triumph ...

With revealing insight into the personal lives of the men and women billed as freaks, Nickell unfolds the captivating story of the midway show.

The play follows the story of Psyche, a mortal woman who is beloved by Cupid, the god of love, but must overcome numerous trials and tribulations to prove her worth.

This is a fascinating work of the strange and seemingly inexplicable made plain and understandable.

Struggles and Triumphs is the life story of America’s first purveyor of pop culture—a man who indulged in outright chicanery and yet managed to retain an image (most of the time) of unassailable moral rectitude.

Starting in the 1870s, the barns, icehouses, gymnasiums and empty theaters of central Illinois provided the practice sites for aerial performers whose names still command reverence in the annals of American circus history.