Gillian Arrighi is Associate Professor in the School of Creative Industries at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She is a member of the Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies (ADSA) and the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR). She has held visiting fellowships at the Ransom Centre for the Humanities (UTexas, Austin), the Harvard Theatre Collection, and the National Library of Australia. Jim Davis is Professor of Theatre Studies at the University of Warwick. He is the author of Comic Acting and Portraiture in Late-Georgian and Regency England (CUP, 2015), which won the David Bradby Prize for International Theatre Research. He is also an editor of Nineteenth-Century Theatre and Film.

'This structured collection of essays is a solid introduction to the circus itself and a substantial exploration of this growing area of academic studies … This is a worthy and informative addition to the field of circus studies, with potential as an introductory textbook, as a reference source, and for fieldwork … Recommended.' W. L. Svitavsky, Choice Connect

• Introduction. The circus: reflecting and mediating the world Gillian Arrighi and Jim Davis; Part I. Trans-national Geographies of the Modern Circus: 1. The origins and growth of the modern circus Matthew Wittmann; 2. Reconstruction, railroads, and race: the American circus in the gilded age and progressive era Sakina Hughes; 3. Circus, colonialism and empire: the circus in Australasia and Asia Gillian Arrighi; 4. The criollo circus (circus theatre) in Argentina: the emergence of a unique circus form in connection with the consolidation of the Argentine nation state Julieta Infantino; 5. The past and present of Czech circus Hanuš Jordan and Veronika Štefanová; 6. Catching on: Chinese acrobatics from China to the west in the twenty-first century Rosemary Farrell; Part II. Circus Acts and Aesthetics: 7. The equestrian circus Kim Baston; 8. Animals, circus and war re-enactment: military action to colonial wars Peta Tait; 9. Circus clowns Louise Peacock; 10. Aerial performance: aerial aesthetics Kate Holmes; Part III. Circus: A Constantly Evolving Form: 11. Circus and somatic spectacularity on stage in the variety era Catherine M. Young; 12. Becoming an art form: from 'Nouveau Cirque' to contemporary circus in Europe Agathe Dumont; 13. Risky play and the global rise in youth circus Alisan Funk; 14. Social circus: the rise of an 'inclusive' movement for collective creativity Jennifer Beth Spiegel; Part IV. Circus Studies Scholarship: 15. Methodologies in circus scholarship Charles R. Batson and Karen Fricker; 16. Through the looking glass: multi-disciplinary perspectives in circus Anna-Sophie Jürgens.