Eddy Joe Cotton

Freaks & Fire The Underground Reinvention of Circus by J. Dee Hill with Photographs by Phill Hollenbeck.

Freaks and Fire is a free-falling leap into the world of radical circus. Beyond the historical confines of Ringling Bros. and scorning the big-budget schemes of Cirque du Soleil, these tightly knit troupes focus on bringing audiences thrills spun around an ideological center. Travelling mobs like Yard Dogs Road Show, Flam Chen, Circus Contraption, and other over-the-top groups bring thrill-starved audiences sometimes disturbing, sometimes exhilarating riffs on the classic circus. From the sick shockfests of the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow to the anarchic burlesque of the Bindlestiff Family Circus. Freaks and Fire brings readers into the diverse and all-consuming world of circus as commentary, lifestyle and play. The only book to chronicle the rise of the alternative circus, Freaks and Fire gives us much more than just the show as spectacle, it gives us a snapshot of society itself, of the larger audience these neo-vaudevillians seek to dazzle and challenge.