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Fire sweeps along the wall of a circus tent while inside thousands of people enjoy a Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey matinee. Within minutes, flames consume the canvas and vast sections collapse, killing 168 people and injuring hundreds more. Inspired by the 1944 Hartford Circus Fire, the interconnected stories in Michael Downs's The Greatest Show explore the aftermath of a disaster in a world of clowns, elephants, and childhood fantasies. In the opening story, Ania Liszak, a young Polish housemaid, steals circus tickets from her employer to take her three-year-old son, Teddy, to the matinee. The fire nearly kills both and leaves them scarred in different ways: Teddy's mother enjoys the beautiful strangeness of the scar on her face, but the patches across Teddy's body inspire cruel schoolmates to call him "Lizard Liszak." Over time, his mother transforms her pain into drama, while Teddy, having no memory of that day, seeks ways to return to it. These and other captivating characters appear throughout the book, creating a portrait of an American city and its people over five decades, raising questions about wounds and healing, memory and forgetting, and about the human capacity for kindness -- with all its futility and power -- in the midst of great loss.
In this black comedy, the spotlight shines upon those who love it most: the self-obsessed, self-help culture and the media that generates hysteria for the sake of entertainment, bringing the cults of victimhood and celebrity together. Nothing is sacred in the network competitions for the next big hit, and in their treatment of newsworthy events, the line between truth and fiction doesn't matter as much as the almighty dollar. Satire, it has been said, is not possible in America because everything eventually comes true. Tragedy, you might say, is both cheapened and still to come when the media gets involved. The Greatest Show on Earth is a timely commentary about the media frenzy surrounding allegations of sex abuse and the popular mania for Reality TV.
Beautifully illustrated and filled with rich historical detail and colorful anecdotes, this is a vibrant history for all those who have ever dreamed of running away to the circus, now in paperback. “Step right up!” and buy a ticket to the Greatest Show on Earth—the Big Top, containing death-defying stunts, dancing bears, roaring tigers, and trumpeting elephants. The circus has always been home to the dazzling and the exotic, the improbable and the impossible—a place of myth and romance, of reinvention, rebirth, second acts, and new identities. Asking why we long to soar on flying trapezes, ride bareback on spangled horses, and parade through the streets in costumes of glitter and gold, this captivating book illuminates the history of the circus and the claim it has on the imaginations of artists, writers, and people around the world. Traveling back to the circus’s early days, Linda Simon takes us to eighteenth-century hippodromes in Great Britain and intimate one-ring circuses in nineteenth-century Paris, where Toulouse-Lautrec and Picasso became enchanted with aerialists and clowns. She introduces us to P. T. Barnum, James Bailey, and the enterprising Ringling Brothers and reveals how they created the golden age of American circuses. Moving forward to the whimsical Circus Oz in Australia and to New York City’s Big Apple Circus and the grand spectacle of Cirque du Soleil, she shows how the circus has transformed in recent years. At the center of the story are the people—trick riders and tightrope walkers, sword swallowers and animal trainers, contortionists and clowns—that created the sensational, raucous, and sometimes titillating world of the circus.
The Recital Books congratulate students for a job well done by providing correlated repertoire to their Lesson Books that are based on concepts they've already learned. As a result, the pieces are quickly mastered. Included in Recital 1A are familiar favorites such as Lost My Partner" and "Tumbalalaika," and fun originals like "Charlie the Chimp!" and "My Secret Place."
Everyone in Harry's family is a star performer in the circus, everyone that is except Harry. Harry can't do anything extraordinary himself. At least, that's what he thinks....John Prater's exuberantly illustrated story reveals that we all have talent -- if we look for it.
Dramatic and evocative reworking of William Shakespeare's The Twelfth Night. Kitty runs away to join the circus but must disguide herself as a boy.
A heartwarming story about overcoming fears and the meaning of success Poppy the Penguin comes from a long line of circus performers. Many skills have been passed down from penguin to penguin. However, Poppy soon decides that performing in the family circus is not for her, as she prefers to feel calm and in control. But the hardest thing is not juggling, or riding a unicycle--it's telling her mum that she doesn't want to perform any more. Her bravery is worth it when Poppy discovers a better role--organizing and coordinating the whole show. And what a show it turns out to be! This tale of overcoming shyness and lack of confidence is both a funny and sensitive parody of the record-breaking movie The Greatest Showman, and a celebration of girl power!
The essential book to understanding Donald Trump as a businessman and leader—and how the biggest deal of his life went down. Now, Barrett's classic book is back in print for the first time in years and with an introduction about Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Donald Trump claims that his success as a “self-made” businessman and real estate developer proves that he will make an effective president, but this devastating investigative account by legendary reporter Wayne Barrett proves otherwise. Back in print for the first time in years, Barrett’s seminal book reveals how Trump put together the biggest deal of his life—Trump Tower—through manipulation and deceit; how he worked with questionable characters from the mafia and city politics; and how it all nearly came crashing down. Here is a vivid and inglorious portrait of the man who wants now to be the most powerful man in the world. In Trump: The Greatest Show in the World—The Deals, the Downfall, the Reinvention, Barrett unravels the myth and reveals the truth behind the mogul’s wheelings and dealings. After decades covering him, few reporters know Trump as Barrett does. Instead of the canny businessman that Trump claims in his own books, Barrett explores how Trump exploited his father’s banking and political connections to finance and grease his first major deals. Barrett’s investigative biography takes us from the days of Donald’s lonely youth to his brash entry into the real estate market, and to the back room deals behind his New York, Atlantic City and Florida projects. Most compellingly Barrett paints an intimate portrait of Trump himself, a man driven by bravado, obsessive self-regard, and an anxious ruthlessness to subdue his rivals and seduce anyone with the power to aid his empire. We see him head to head with an opponent as powerful as Pete Rozelle, ingratiating himself with the brooding governor on the Hudson, and fueling the Drexel engine driven by Michael Milken with hundreds of millions in fees—paid, ironically, by gaming companies to fend off Trump takeovers. We explore his complicated emotional and business relationship with his first wife, Ivana, and the use he planned to make of his mistress—and later, his second wife—Marla Maples as a “southern strategy” in his then contemplated presidential campaign. With interviews with scores of adversaries and former colleagues, we are given a privileged look at Trump the businessman in action—reckless as often as he is brilliant, reliant on threats as much as on charm, and ultimately a cautionary tale: is this the man we want to lead the world? PRAISE FOR TRUMP: “Trump is a withering portrait of the most self-mythologized and promoted businessman of our era, an exhaustively researched and long-overdue antidote to Trump’s own books. It is a penetrating portrait of the age that spawned him and the many who aided and abetted his rise. Trump seems destined to be the definitive account of how Trump got ahead and why he fell. It is a sad story, with important lessons for us all.” —James B. Stewart, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Den of Thieves “Donald Trump surprises us again. Wayne Barrett’s Trump is a fresh, detailed, and vivid account of the tangled connections of money, politics, and power in our times.” —Nicholas Pileggi, author of Wiseguy
The true story of Trump's rise to the top--and the truth behind the deals he described in The Art of the Deal--is told for the first time by Village Voice reporter Barrett, who has been following the Trump story for nearly a decade. Photographs.
Meet the animal kingdom's greatest talents in this illustrated encyclopedia of curious creatures! Drawn in a fun and vibrant style, this book groups animals by their special skills. Flick through these amazing animals that think, look, sound, and act in incredible ways! Introducing: 'the architects' Super-skilled animals that build objects using their legs, beaks, and mouths! the 'noisy neighbors' What’s all that racket?! Meet the loudest big mouths on the planet. the 'homebodies' These territorial creatures keep watch of the land around them. the 'forever faithfuls' Some animals mate for life! Discover which animals pair up. the ‘night owls’ These fascinating animals only come out at night. Filled with fascinating facts, curious creatures, and characterful cartoons, this book will keep young explorers busy for hours. The perfect gift for any young animal lover!