Carnival Strippers Revisited

This is the new and expanded edition of Susan MeiselasÆ 1976 bookCarnival Strippers, arguably one of the most important photographicprojects of the second half of the twentieth century.

From 1972 to 1975, Meiselas spent her summers photographingwomen who performed striptease for small-town carnivals inNew England, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. As she followedthe shows from town to town, she captured the dancers onstage and off, their public performances as well as private lives,creating a portrait both documentary and empathetic: ôTherecognition of this world is not the invention of it. I wanted topresent an account of the girl show that portrayed what I sawand revealed how the people involved felt about what they weredoing.ö Meiselas also taped candid interviews with the dancers,their boyfriends, the show managers and paying customers,which form a crucial part of the book.

MeiselasÆ frank description of these women brought a hiddenworld to public attention, and explored the complex role thec