The Circus: 1870s–1950s
edited by Noel Daniel
Taschen, Bibliotheca Universalis
2016

There must be at least two thousand pictures, many not previously published, in this 874-page book. The texts are in three languages. A treasure trove! I noticed it's available at the Art Institute of Chicago (but I got my copy at the local independent bookstore).

The Greatest Shows on Earth: A History of the Circus
Linda Simon
Reaktion Books
2014

This goes into detail about many shows, stars, and situations that exemplify the circus through history. It's also heavily illustrated.

Under the Big Top: A Season with the Circus
Bruce Feiler
Scribner
1995

A writer with some juggling and related skills ran away and joined the circus for one year. He became a whiteface clown, and tells us what it's like performing in the rings and living behind the scenes. It's a George Plimpton sort of triumph, highly readable.

American Sideshow: An Encyclopedia of History's Most Wondrous and Curiously Strange Performers
Marc Hartzman
Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin
2005

An in-depth study of the "ten-in-one" to be found historically in circus sideshows, using examples of stars, each with a name, a history, and often a happy ending. The book traces the development of sideshows and ponders the way they worked for the acts and the audiences.

From Barnum & Bailey to Feld: The Creative Evolution of the Greatest Show on Earth
Ernest Albrecht
McFarland & Company, Inc.
2014

This book covers the founding and a year-by-year description of this evolving circus. The author, a New York theater critic, saw the circus (to him that means only Ringling) in 1942, 1945, 1947–1956, and 1966–2014, sometimes multiple times in a year.

Water for Elephants
Sara Gruen
Algonquin Books
2006

OK, all right, I know it's fiction. But Gruen did an incredible amount of research and everything I've learned from other sources meshes with her vividly drawn portrait of circus life in the 1930s. So I incorporated other information from her book.

In Gruen I trust.

Articles

Andre Brooks, "Debunking the Myth of P.T. Barnum" in the New York Times, October 3, 1982.
A cache of Barnum letters and other research reveal his character, very unlike that portrayed in the musical "Barnum" and other depictions.

Holly Millea, "Step Right Up! See the Reinvention of the Great American Circus" in Smithsonian, July-August 2017.
A brief history of the American circus and an exploration of post-elephant circuses and circus-related opportunities.

Websites

Of course there are a million circus related websites and I've visited my fair share, especially to find a photo or confirm a detail. Maybe the best website I found was Circopedia. Among its many features is a much more extensive glossary than the one I've offered here.

Michael Jennings

My brother saved me from many little errors and a few whoppers. He made some excellent contributions as well, like "Hey Rube!" and Barnum's Animal Crackers. But it was impossible to catch everthing in this moving target, so don't blame him for things I continued to mess up.