This book is about Soviet Circus artists who have become popular in Britain, France, the U.S.A., Cuba, Japan, China, Belgium, Holland and many other countries. Oleg Popov, the " Sunny clown; " the trainers Vladimir and Yuri Durov; Valentina Surkova the gymnast; The Vlzhanskys tightrope-walkers; the Bubnov sisters known as " the dragon-flies; " Valentin Filatov with his " Bear Circus; " the trainer Margarita Nazarova; and the magician Kio ... all appear in the following pages in their own stories or reminiscences and in articles by well-known writers, producers, and critics." The Past Recalled" describes memorable events in the lives of Anton Chekhov, Alexander Kuprin and Maxim Gorky. A. Fevralsky's article on Mayakovsky's circus pantomime " Moscow in Flames" is particularly interesting. This section also contains some of Vsevolod Meyerhold's and Sergei Eisenstein's ideas about the circus.