This deeply researched and compellingly written book is down to clown! Whether an academic seeking to explain to students the deep history of clown panic, a horror fan intrigued by how slathering on petrol-heavy face paint creates terrifying films and viral legends, or simply someone visited once too often in your dreams by Art the Clown or Pennywise, this book will guide you through the raucous, and shockingly political, history of harlequin horror. Destined to be the definitive work on the history of clown horror for a generation.

W. Scott Poole, author of Wasteland: The Great War and the Origins of Modern Horror

This vivid, engaging book reveals how the American advertising industry runs away with the circus clown, and capitalist co-option overturns a legacy of left-leaning politics. The clown develops into an emotional icon of twentieth century popular culture embodying fun and enjoyment alongside satire and horror in cinema and wrestling. A highly detailed investigation that shows the ubiquity of the clown in representation.

Peta Tait, Latrobe University, Australia

Whitney S. May has found the perfect figure to unlock a century of American power and spectacle: the clown, tracked here from Depression-era folk hero to brand ambassador to corporate monster to rebel. The result is essential reading for anyone thinking about capitalism, protest, and the strange costumes power wears.

L.M. Bogad, Professor of Tactical Performance, UC Davis, a.k.a. "Colonel Oftruth," co-founder of the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army