Gamble Publishes Book Review in International Journal

A book review by Dr. Mort Gamble, assistant to the president and a circus historian, is featured this month in Spectacle, the international online journal of the circus arts (spectaclemagazine.com).

Inside the Changing Circus: A Critic’s Guide by David Lewis Hammarstrom (Bear Manor Media, 2012) is an in-depth study of the changing art and commerce of the circus industry.  “His book aims to help us understand what’s out there, how and why it’s out there, and what, if any, artistic merit contemporary circus productions possess,” Gamble writes. “The real premise of the book is where will/can the circus business go from here, please audiences enough to fill seats, and remain true to its fundamental mission—‘to dare us to look away.’”

Spectacle is edited and published by Ernest Albrecht, a scholar, biographer, and theatre critic, who has written extensively on show business and the circus for Time, Variety, and other publications. Gamble is a frequent contributor to various circus publications.