In the first year of the last decade of the twentieth century, Europe's two great socialist empires collapsed suddenly. After years of subservience to Moscow and Belgrade, national leaders at the margins of the Soviet and Yugoslav spheres now played for the highest stakes. What had previously been administrative internal borders became wild international frontiers where sickening violence reared its ugly head amongst the peoples of Eastern Europe. Journalist Rob O'Connor follows those peoples for whom sovereignty and freedom have come at the highest price, telling their stories from the perspective of that ultimate laboratory of social science, the football pitch. As new nations have sought to rescue what is left of their cultures from the wreckage of forced Sovietisation, football has joined up the past with a deeply uncertain present. In these stories, the game is played both as an act of resistance and as an act of rebuilding. It represents ideas about identity and community – a pacifist's alternative to the butt of a rifle. In war, football survives to remind people of their humanity.

A Hindi film star and an American missionary are twins separated at birth; a dwarf — a former circus clown — mistakes the missionary for the movie star. And stalking one of them is a serial killer...

A history of the circus from its origins in the Roman times, through its establishment in Western Europe, and to the modern day circus—absolutely diverse and captivating Circuses have existed since Roman times, but centuries later, the circus world has never been more diverse and captivating, the global success of Cirque du Soleil testament to its enduring and universal appeal. Traditional family circuses for kids, arty cirque-style shows for adults, circuses in tents or in theaters, circuses with animals or without, cabaret-style hybrids on the burlesque circuit—this is an expert guide to their extraordinary history and culture. The circus requires a unique type of performer, people who blend the discipline of sports stars with the razzmatazz of showbiz; itinerant but clannish entertainers who have often had circus blood in their families for generations; world class gymnasts who risk death twice daily and help take down the big top afterwards. This history offers a journey into this unique world, each chapter an access-all-areas pass to a different circus, talking to the trapeze flyers, clowns, animal trainers, and showmen about their lives, work, families, customs, and traditions.

“Earnest, poetic.” —Booklist “Raw, engaging.” —Kirkus Reviews The Greatest Showman meets This Is Us by way of Sarah Dessen in this heart-wrenching, hopeful contemporary novel about a multiracial teen who risks it all to follow her dreams by joining the circus, from the award-winning author of Starfish. Harley Milano has dreamed of becoming a trapeze artist for as long as she can remember. With parents who run a famous circus in Las Vegas, she spends almost every night in the big top watching their lead aerialist perform, wishing with all her heart and soul that she would be up there herself one day. After a huge fight with her parents, who continue to insist she go to school instead, Harley leaves home, betrays her family, and joins the rival traveling circus Maison du Mystère. There, she is thrust into a world that is both brutal and beautiful, where she learns the value of hard work, passion, and collaboration. At the same time, Harley must come to terms with the truth of her family and her past—and reckon with the sacrifices she made and the people she hurt in order to follow her dreams. From award-winning author Akemi Dawn Bowman comes a luminous, unforgettable examination of love, loyalty, and the hard choices we must make to find where we truly belong.

"Mary Ellen Mark fell in love with the Indian circus in 1969, during her first trip to India. As she watched a huge hippopotamus walk around the ring with its mouth wide open, wearing a pink tutu, she was struck by the beauty and innocence of the show. She returned to India many times, and in 1989 and 1990 she devoted six months to photographing eighteen circuses, following them around the continent by train, plane, van, and auto-rickshaw. Secretive, highly competitive, and each a closed, self-sufficient society, the circuses embody what Mark calls "a poetry and a craziness that are still uncorrupted, and honest, and pure."" "Beautifully printed in tritone, this remarkable collection of photographs captures the texture of circus life outside of the ring - exhausting, humorous, poignant, and often bizarre - as well as the affection and devotion that the performers have for each other and their animals." "Indian Circus is documentary photography at its finest. The photographs are not only compelling portraits of the performers, but also eloquent and poetic narratives about life in the Indian circus."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Beer and Circus presents a no-holds-barred examination of the troubled relationship between college sports and higher education from a leading authority on the subject. Murray Sperber turns common perceptions about big-time college athletics inside out. He shows, for instance, that contrary to popular belief the money coming in to universities from sports programs never makes it to academic departments and rarely even covers the expense of maintaining athletic programs. The bigger and more prominent the sports program, the more money it siphons away from academics. Sperber chronicles the growth of the university system, the development of undergraduate subcultures, and the rising importance of sports. He reveals television's ever more blatant corporate sponsorship conflicts and describes a peculiar phenomenon he calls the "Flutie Factor"--the surge in enrollments that always follows a school's appearance on national television, a response that has little to do with academic concerns. Sperber's profound re-evaluation of college sports comes straight out of today's headlines and opens our eyes to a generation of students caught in a web of greed and corruption, deprived of the education they deserve. Sperber presents a devastating critique, not only of higher education but of national culture and values. Beer and Circus is a must-read for all students and parents, educators and policy makers.

Both Resourceful and Decorative. It's set to be a busy autumn in New London and beyond. With the ripples of the revolt still running through the European Administration, Val Toreth is slowly settling into the new flat he shares with Keir Warrick. But on orders from the very highest levels of the Administration, Toreth finds himself leaving his regular beat far behind and heading over the Atlantic to Washington D.C. Without his usual team or his authority as a Para-investigator to back him up, Toreth is caught up in a world of politics, diplomacy, and religion far outside his experience. Worst of all, he's stuck with an unexpected and very unwanted companion on his trip. Can he keep his cool and win through when international reputations are on the line? Back in New London, Investigator Barret-Connor is called on to deal with a case that lies outside the traditional areas of interest of the Investigation and Interrogation Division-the unexpectedly dangerous world of Europe's music corporations. With dark secrets hidden behind the PR-groomed public facade, both his professional skills and conscience will be tested. The eighth book in the Administration series contains the novellas Innocent Blood and For Your Entertainment, and continues the lives of now partially domesticated Para-investigator Val Toreth and somewhat harried corporate director Keir Warrick."

On May 26, 1889, four thousand mourners proceeded down Chicago's Michigan Avenue, followed by a crowd forty thousand strong, in a howl of protest at what commentators called one of the ghastliest and most curious crimes in civilized history. The dead man, Dr. P. H. Cronin, was a respected Irish physician, but his brutal murder uncovered a web of intrigue, secrecy, and corruption that stretched across the United States and far beyond. O'Brien tells the story of Cronin's murder from the police investigation to the trial-- and the story of a booming immigrant population clamoring for power at a time of unprecedented change.

From the Master of Horror comes the first gripping book in the twelve book New York Times bestselling Saga of Darren Shan. Start the tale from the beginning in the book that inspired the feature film The Vampire's Assistant and petrified devoted fans worldwide. A young boy named Darren Shan and his best friend, Steve, get tickets to the Cirque Du Freak, a wonderfully gothic freak show featuring weird, frightening half human/half animals who interact terrifyingly with the audience. In the midst of the excitement, true terror raises its head when Steve recognizes that one of the performers-- Mr. Crepsley-- is a vampire! Stever remains after the show finishes to confront the vampire-- but his motives are surprising! In the shadows of a crumbling theater, a horrified Darren eavesdrops on his friend and the vampire, and is witness to a monstrous, disturbing plea. As if by destiny, Darren is pulled to Mr. Crepsley and what follows is his horrifying descent into the dark and bloody world of vampires. This is the beginning of Darren's story.