Besides teaching the history of popular entertainment at the University of Wisconsin, I'm a writer and historian. There are a lot of circus surveys and shallow Ringling histories out there. No other circus book I've found has been so detailed and pleasant to read as "Ringlingville." It places the brothers in their proper context without being one of those rehashed "life and times" works that are short on content.

Especially interesting is Apps' look at the family's dynamics -- a three ring circus in itself. There's lots of new material here, with locations, dates and the wagon-by-wagon growth of this American icon.

Anyone interested in the Ringlings or American pop culture will find this a fascinating and important book!

Ringlingville USA is the fantastic true story of seven brothers' odyssey from immigrant poverty to immortality as the creators of an enduring circus world. Recently and for the first time, the brothers' financial records and personal correspondence have become available to researchers; Wisconsin and U.S. history specialist Jerry Apps consolidates information from a wide range of sources to offer an unmistakably human portrait of the Ringling Brothers and their personal challenges amid taxation, war, economic pressure, technological advances, and individual tragedy. An amazing saga of real-life legends, illustrated throughout with vintage black-and-white photographs, Ringlingville USA is a must for students of Big Top history and a "must" for all Wisconsin school and community library collections.