The Contemporary Circus: Art of the Spectacular. By Ernest Albrecht. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2006; pp. 278. $60.00 paper. - Vaudeville Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America. 2 vols. By Frank Cullen with Florence Hackman and Donald McNeilly. New York and London: Routledge, 2007; pp. 1,375. $295 cloth.