If early 1900s western circus history was a circus act, I would hire it. The stories have all the earmarks of a quintessential crowd-pleaser: drama! romance! danger! comedy! Near escapes, outright catastrophes, steadfast family bonds, unwavering dedication to one’s art. This sensationalism is what hooked me as a young academic, but as quickly as I was dazzled, my enthusiasm dulled. I encountered the same stories over and over. Consuming the saccharine and sentimental plots on repeat was like snacking on an endless yarn of cotton candy – I became queasy at reading (again) about Philip Astley. I craved to know about circus as a cultural force that steered western society, politics, and national identity. A few authors fed me well, most notably Janet Davis and Peta Tait. Kate Holmes’ recent publication,Female Aerialists in the 1920s and Early 1930s: Femininity, Celebrity and Glamour, has left me fully satisfied. It is the perfect cocktail: equal parts scrupulous circus research, comprehensive cultural context, and a wise and fair contestation of ingrained nostalgia. It is a must-read for present-day artists, fans, students, and academics alike. It is an essential resource for the well-informed aerialist. For they are the embodied legacy of aerial action, and this is a piece of their history. It raises the bar for how circus history is told. Move over, pink lemonade! Holmes is serving up the new champagne of circus academics. 

Kate Holmes As a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Exeter, Holmes’s research focuses on aerial performance practice and its history. Driven by wanting to know more about her own amateur practice as an aerialist specializing in static trapeze, her research is centered on the embodied experience of aerial performance and circus. Holmes’s approac...