Reviews 249 privilege, and so forth in contemporary France. But she does not stop at the simple step of description of the issue in her inquiry; the“looking back”of her work suggests also a spiritual rebirth or renewal based on the West African concept of Sankofa that is part of regaining full ontological recovery and of giving “all of France’s citizens a sense of presence in national history” (158). The readers will gauge the book by delving into five well-structured chapters starting with the analysis of a series of exhibition narratives in“Civilized into the Civilizing Mission”(chapter 1) to the perpetuation of legacies displaying black bodies as a commodity for consumption in chapter 2. The last three chapters pertain to literary and musical works that focus on the problematic nature of the act of writing (or singing, as Knox puts it adequately) to “right” stereotypical images of black bodies throughout the French gaze. Sarah Lawrence College (NY) Claudy Delné Leroux, Louis Patrick, and Charles R. Batson, eds. Cirque Global, Quebec’s Expanding Circus Boundaries. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s UP, 2016. ISBN 978-07735 -4673-8. Pp. xxxi + 363. Wide-ranging in scope, yet focused on details of circus history, cultural identity, aesthetics, and business, Cirque Global is much like nouveau cirque itself: both a tour de force and a work in progress. The editors arranged fifteen essays into these sections: “Quebec on Planet Circus,” “Cirque Brands,” “Dramaturgy and Aesthetics,” “Circus Problematized,”and“Affecting Change.”This organizational logic provides an excellent vue d’ensemble and supports the editors’ goal “to foster a sense of legitimacy among colleagues in disciplinary fields baffled by the study of circus, while maintaining an interdisciplinary spirit of cooperation” (17). Batson’s Prologue, “Reading Quebec’s Expanding Circus Boundaries,” and Leroux’s Epilogue, “Circus Reinvented,” are not simply pro forma nods to how to begin and end a collection of essays. The former is crucial to orienting the reader, while the latter points to “work that remains to be done.” The thirteen-page glossary includes numerous photo illustrations and is a welcome feature to those not conversant with circus terminology. Although Cirque Global is divided into five sections, none stand alone. Rather, the sections and the essays are intended to be in dialogue with each other. Thus, various essential topics thread their way throughout the work, rendering cohesive what might otherwise have been a disjointed final product. Not unexpectedly, the majority of chapters deal primarily, or at least to some extent, with Cirque du Soleil, although other troupes, such as Les 7 Doigts de la Main and the Cirque Eloïse, are hardly neglected. The cirque itself, offspring of traditional eighteenth- and nineteenth-century circuses, as well as the distinctive street spectacles of Montreal, its home base, remains a mark of Quebecois identity and pride. However, it has also long been a major export that took on a transnational character as it played to audiences worldwide and incorporated artists from diverse cultures into its shows. This development greatly complicates notions of identity and place. In fact, Cirque du Soleil was recently sold to“investment firms from Texas and Shanghai” (292). What, then, will this mean for the future of a Quebecois cirque? Another consideration inherent in this turn of events is the unavoidable tension between artists and management of any “cultural industry,” a challenge that chronically affects arts organizations in general. Those who do research on artists’ use of the body will find the chapters that touch on Graver’s taxonomy of circus bodies to be extremely compelling. Likewise intriguing is commentary on contortion acts in relation to the “freak” shows of circuses past. All in all, it could be said that much of the material in this book had already appeared elsewhere and perhaps did not require being published again, even in updated form. However, the argument for compiling a comprehensive volume on circus studies outweighs this possible criticism. Cirque Global succeeds in its balancing act of providing a useful volume for newcomers to the cirque as well as those whose research already takes place under the grand chapiteau. State University of New York, Geneseo Beverly J. Evans Mandel, Maud S. Muslims...