One of the world's most influential photographers, Bruce Davidson, takes readers inside three midcentury big tops in images that are poetic, realistic and profound. He reveals not only the swiftly vanishing cultural phenomenon of the circus, but what might be called the eternal human circus. At a three-ring show in 1958 he climbed to the top of the tent to view the performances of the famous liontamer Clyde Beatty and human cannonball Hugo Zacchini. His deeper interest lay in the daily lives of circus performers and producers--the roustabouts and riggers, and the pretty girl who rode an elephant in what was called the "spec." He also made an intimate series of a dwarf clown. In 1965 at a huge multi-ring coliseum show, Davidson took a more critical look at performances under a steel-and-concrete environment; continuing behind the scenes, his vision became sharper and more surreal. And in 1967, Davidson caught the elegant exuberance of an Irish one-ring circus. He photographed the kinds of performances that are the essence of the medium, including a face-to-face encounter with an exceptional trapeze artist. Most of these pictures are published here for the first time.

"In American Power, Mitch Epstein investigates notions of power, both electrical and political: who has it, what do they do with it and how does it affect other people? From 2003 to 2005, Epstein traveled across the United States to photograph in and around sites where fossil fuel, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, solar and other alternative power are produced. The resulting pictures contain Epstein's characteristic mix of complex wit, surprising detail, and formal rigor." "While making this series, Epstein encountered Homeland Security obstacles, environmental contamination, corporate impenetrability, and a culture of excess. In an accompanying essay, he tells how these experiences led him to think harder about the artist's role in a country teetering between collapse and transformation." "The images in this book underscore the intersection between energy production and consumption; climate change and corporatism; society and landscape. Here is a portrait of early 21st century America as it clings to past comforts and gropes for a sensible future." --Book Jacket.