Nance, Susan. Entertaining Elephants: Animal Agency and the Business of the American Circus (Johns Hopkins University Press; 2013) 304 pages; elephants as "actors" or creatures of agency in the American circus from 1800 to 1940.
Speaight, George, "A History of the Circus" 1980, The Tantivy Press, London ISBN0-4980-2470-9
Stoddart, Helen, "Rings of Desire: Circus History and Representation", 2000, Manchester University Press, Manchester ISBN0-7190-5234-3
Childress, Micah D. Circus Life: Performing and Laboring Under America's Big Top Shows, 1830-1920 (University of Tennessee Press, 2018), Pp.247 online review.
Dfening, Fred D., III (November 2007). "The American Circus in the 1870s: An Overview from Newspaper Sources". Bandwagon. 51 (6): 4–60. ISSN0005-4968.—provides an overview of "low-yield research" into the history of the American Circus as covered in "ragcontent newspapers [and] magazines [such as] White Tops"
Simon, Linda. The Greatest Shows on Earth: A History of the Circus (Reaktion Books, distributed by University of Chicago Press; 2014); 296 pages;