January 1932: Ben MacCarthy and his father watch a vagabond variety revue making a stop in the Irish countryside. After a two-hour kaleidoscope of low comedy, juggling, tumbling, and other entertainments, Ben’s father, mesmerized by Venetia Kelly, the troupe’s magnetic headliner, makes a fateful decision: to abandon his family and set off on the road with Miss Kelly and her caravan. Ben’s mother, shattered by the desertion, exhorts, “Find him and bring him back,” thereby sending the boy on a Homeric voyage into manhood. Interweaving a host of unforgettable creations—“King” Kelly, Venetia’s violent, Mephistophelean grandfather; Sarah Kelly, Venetia’s mysterious, amoral mother; and even a truth-telling ventriloquist’s dummy named Blarney—Frank Delaney unfurls a splendid narrative that spans half the world and a tumultuous decade.

It's 1963 and the Travelling Vampire Show, featuring Valeria, is coming to the rural town of Grandville. It's a one-night-only show and three local teenagers don't want to miss it. It starts at midnight in Janks Field - a place that's off limits, but they can't let Valeria do her thing without them.

Everyone has his or her own Traveling Show. As we interact with the people we meet, their influences on our lives shape the way we grow and how we present ourselves to the world. The people in these poems lived, and died, with their own Traveling Shows as they tried to reach for rainbows. Some never did finish that journey. Through their eyes, I wrote about their travels through life. Through my eyes, they became my own travels.

Before phonographs and moving pictures, live performances dominated American popular entertainment. Carnivals, circuses, dioramas, magicians, mechanical marvels, musicians, and theatrical troupes—all visited rural fairgrounds, small-town opera houses, and big-city palaces around the country, giving millions of people an escape from their everyday lives for a dime or a quarter. In From Traveling Show to Vaudeville, Robert M. Lewis has assembled a remarkable collection of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century primary sources that document America's age of theatrical spectacle. In eight parts, Lewis explores, in turn, dime museums, minstrelsy, circuses, melodramas, burlesque shows, Wild West shows, amusement parks, and vaudeville. Included in this compendium are biographies, programs, ephemera produced by theatrical entrepreneurs to lure audiences to their shows, photographs, scripts, and song lyrics as well as newspaper accounts, reviews, and interviews with such figures as P. T. Barnum and Buffalo Bill Cody. Lewis also gives us reminiscences about and reactions to various shows by members of audiences, including such prominent writers as Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Carl Sandburg, Walt Whitman, Louisa May Alcott, Charles Dickens, O. Henry, and Maxim Gorky. Each section also includes a concise introduction that places the genre of spectacle into its historical and cultural context and suggests major interpretive themes. The book closes with a bibliographic essay that identifies relevant scholarly works. Many of the pieces collected here have not been published since their first appearance, making From Traveling Show to Vaudeville an indispensable resource for historians of popular culture, theater, and nineteenth-century American society.

From the bestselling author of Tides of Honour and Promises to Keep comes a poignant novel about a young couple caught on opposite sides of the Second World War. In the fall of 1939, Grace Baker’s three brothers, sharp and proud in their uniforms, board Canadian ships headed for a faraway war. Grace stays behind, tending to the homefront and the general store that helps keep her small Nova Scotian community running. The war, everyone says, will be over before it starts. But three years later, the fighting rages on and rumours swirl about “wolf packs” of German U-Boats lurking in the deep waters along the shores of East Jeddore, a stone’s throw from Grace’s window. As the harsh realities of war come closer to home, Grace buries herself in her work at the store. Then, one day, a handsome stranger ventures into the store. He claims to be a trapper come from away, and as Grace gets to know him, she becomes enamoured by his gentle smile and thoughtful ways. But after several weeks, she discovers that Rudi, her mysterious visitor, is not the lonely outsider he appears to be. He is someone else entirely—someone not to be trusted. When a shocking truth about her family forces Grace to question everything she has so strongly believed, she realizes that she and Rudi have more in common than she had thought. And if Grace is to have a chance at love, she must not only choose a side, but take a stand. Come from Away is a mesmerizing story of love, shifting allegiances, and second chances, set against the tumultuous years of the Second World War.

This Novel tells about the practice of American medicine from colonial times through the 20th century, and its effects. Medicine was in its infancy. Epidemics of malaria, dysentery, yellow fever, and others, decimated the populace. Medications were few, and deadly elements like arsenic and opium were commonly used. Fortunately, Traveling Medicine Shows brought cures, and elixirs (magical or medicinal), plus entertainment, to the people living in small and large towns and cities. They relieved the boredom of open spaces and rural living; some of them brought musical entertainment. The Travis Traveling Medicine Show had a sterling reputation. It provided medications to the populace, and was ethical in not selling any medicine they thought would harm their customers. The main characters, Charles Reynolds and Carole Blanchard, live in Schenectady, New York. Charles studied to become an apothecary, and Carole became a singer and took voice lessons in famous musical conservatories. They were both hired by the Travis Traveling Medicine Emporium and performed as its top singers. It is possible that young apothecaries who frequented the Shows may have learned of the toxicity of certain patent medicines from customers of the Shows, and decided to look into the matter and if possible, eliminate them. The motivated young men and women employed in Patent Medicine Production and Marketing, sometimes found each other and fell in love. This is also their story.

Jamie is rebuilding his life after his previous escape from the Pilo Family Circus, with no memories of the circus besides the clown outfit in his cupboard. Far below, as the circus stirs back to life, Jamie finds himself filled with urges to be a clown again (making inappropriate jokes at work, an urge to put on his clown outfit, etc.) He also finds that his friends and family do not trust him, because of that night he was found by police in a clown suit with blood on his shoes, and no memory of what happened. But there are those who do remember what happened. As the circus rebuilds itself, seeking out past performers and enslaving new cast members, Jamie finds himself drawn back into the dark world of the diabolic big top. But this time, the clown paint has no effect on him. His evil twin — JJ — is dead and buried. Jamie believes there is no way to bring back that twisted side of himself. That is, until the body is found and reanimated . . .

Honeycutt’s Traveling Rodeo and Genuine Old Fashioned Medicine Show By: John Longbottom Honeycutt’s Traveling Rodeo and Genuine Old Fashioned Medicine Show is a retro-beat short story presenting a behind-the-scenes glimpse into a quirky modern-day traveling rodeo and medicine show. At times poignant, occasionally absurd, and often humorous, John Longbottom presents vignettes of this unusual crew of mismatched souls. Discover how twin sisters Abigail and Zelda came to run this ragged outfit. Meet the cross-eyed clown, Joe the Indian, and J.D. the musician, along with an assorted cast of zany carny performers. Listen in on their private conversations, learn who dislikes who and why, how they protect their own secrets, and how they all came together to work in this modern-day Wild West show.

The Negro Motorist Green Book was a groundbreaking guide that provided African American travelers with crucial information on safe places to stay, eat, and visit during the era of segregation in the United States. This essential resource, originally published from 1936 to 1966, offered a lifeline to black motorists navigating a deeply divided nation, helping them avoid the dangers and indignities of racism on the road. More than just a travel guide, The Negro Motorist Green Book stands as a powerful symbol of resilience and resistance in the face of oppression, offering a poignant glimpse into the challenges and triumphs of the African American experience in the 20th century.

An illustrated collection of sixty-four traditional nursery rhymes.