DANGER ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE: Introducing D.L. Moody -- Fourteen-year-old Casey Watkins wants nothing more than to escape his family's dreary, bare-bones life in the Philadelphia of 1893. When he learns of an opening in Adam Forepaugh's Circus, it seems like the perfect escape, and he convinces his mother and sister to join with him. Then "The Flying Eugenes," a family of trapeze artists, offer Casey a role in their death-defying act, and he is elated. Flying on the trapeze is more exciting than he ever dreamed! The pressure is on-Casey has only a few weeks to learn the act before the circus arrives in Chicago in time for the famous World's Fair. Once in Chicago, the boy is fascinated by D. L. Moody, the dynamic evangelist who preaches to standing-room-only crowds in the circus Big Top Sunday mornings. Casey never imagined that church could be more popular than the circus! But then a dangerous accident leaves him paralyzed with fear, and he runs to Moody looking for a way out. Will the evangelist be able to help him? The circus is counting on him . . . what if he falls?

Casey convinces his family to join the circus but a terrifying accident leaves him paralyzed with fear. Ages 8-12.

When he and his mother join the Fourpaugh Circus in 1893, fourteen-year-old Casey Watkins is certain that their lives will change for the better, but the real change comes when they meet the charismatic evangelist D. L. Moody.

The Routledge Circus Studies Reader offers an absorbing critical introduction to this diverse and emerging field. It brings together the work of over 30 scholars in this discipline, including Janet Davis, Helen Stoddart and Peta Tait, to highlight and address the field’s key historical, critical and theoretical issues. It is organised into three accessible sections, Perspectives, Precedents and Presents, which approach historical aspects, current issues, and the future of circus performance. The chapters, grouped together into 13 theme-based sub-sections, provide a clear entry point into the field and emphasise the diversity of approaches available to students and scholars of circus studies. Classic accounts of performance, including pieces by Philippe Petit and Friedrich Nietzsche, are included alongside more recent scholarship in the field. Edited by two scholars whose work is strongly connected to the dynamic world of performance, The Routledge Circus Studies Reader is an essential teaching and study resource for the emerging discipline of circus studies. It also provides a stimulating introduction to the field for lovers of circus.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1865.

Finally, a summary section provides a brief synopsis of at least one title, representative of the author's style, and several of the writers have provided personal annotations of their works."--BOOK JACKET.

A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year When Duncan Wall visited his first nouveau cirque as a college student in Paris, everything about it—the monochromatic costumes, the acrobats singing Simon and Garfunkel, the juggler reciting Proust—hooked him. Soon he was attending circuses two or three nights a week, and soon after that, he entered the intensively competitive training program at France’s École Nationale des Arts du Cirque. The Ordinary Acrobat is a magical, funny, sometimes scary story of what happens when one average American joins a host of gifted—and flexible—international students in a rigorous regimen of tumbling, trapeze, juggling, and clowning. Brimming with surprises, outsized personalities, and plenty of charm, this personal history of how the circus evolved into the thrilling experience it is today delivers all the excitement and pleasure of the circus ring itself.

According to Roger Caillois, play is an occasion of pure waste. In spite of this - or because of it - play constitutes an essential element of human social and spiritual development. In this study, the author defines play as a free and voluntary activity that occurs in a pure space, isolated and protected from the rest of life.

Step into the captivating world of James Thurber's 'The Middle Aged Man on the Flying Trapeze'. In this remarkable collection of 36 stories, Thurber's masterful sketches come to life, revealing a delightful blend of dark humor and profound observations. From the comically cold gentleman to the whimsical escapades of Mr. Preble, each story is a glimpse into Thurber's genius as both a writer and a doodler.