Burlesque Books

This is a simple listing of the burlesque books in the Library at Stately BeauTease Manor. Further down you'll find our Wish List of books we don't have yet and then books by friends and supporters, which aren't necessarily burlesque related.

Abbott, Karen. American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose , 2010. Read review!

Allen, Ralph G. The Best Burlesque Sketches , 1995. Read review!

Allen, Robert Clyde. Horrible Prettiness: Burlesque and American Culture , 1991. Read review!

Angier, Roswell. "A Kind of Life": Conversations in the Combat Zone, 1976. Read review!

Baldwin, Michelle. Burlesque and the New Bump-n-Grind , 2004. Read review!

Barber, Rowland. The Night They Raided Minsky's: a Fanciful Expedition to the Lost Atlantis of Show Business , 1960. Read review!

Beck, Kathrine. Gypsy Rose Lee, Writing & Stripping , 2011. (ebook) Read review!

Blaize, Immodesty. Tease , 2010. (fiction) Read review!

Blaize, Immodesty. Ambition , 2010. (fiction) Read review!

Bon Bon, Gina and Mist, Julie. Legends of Burlesque, Then and Now, 2018. Read review!

Bosse, Katharina. New Burlesque , 2004. Read review!

Briggeman, Jane. BURLESQUE: A Collection of Comedy Blackouts , 2012.

Briggeman, Jane. Burlesque: Legendary Stars of the Stage , 2004. Read review!

Brown, Lillian Kiernan. Banned in Boston: Memoirs of a Stripper , 2003. Read review!

Bruce, Honey. Honey: The Life and Loves of Lenny's Shady Lady , 1976. Read review!

Cary, David. A Bit of Burlesque: A Brief History of Its Times Stars , 1997. Read review!

Collyer, Martin. Burlesque: The Baubles...Bangles...Babes , 1964.

Corio, Ann. This Was Burlesque , 1968. Read review!

Cunningham, Leslie. Brown Skin Showgirls, 2017.

Davis, Andrew. Baggy Pants Comedy: Burlesque and the Oral Tradition , 2011.

Declaron, Emilie. Burlesque Dancer 101: A Professional Burlesque Dancer's Quick Guide on How to Learn, Grow, Perform, and Succeed at the Art of Burlesque dancing from A to Z, nd.

DiNardo, Kelly. Gilded Lili: Lili St. Cyr and the Striptease Mystique , 2007. Read review!

Dong, Arthur. Forbidden City , USA: Chinese American Nightclubs, 1936-1970, 2014.

Dubberley, Emily and Alyson Fixter. Ultimate Burlesque , 2008.  (fiction) Read review!

Fish, Charles. Blue Ribbons and Burlesque: A Book of Country Fairs , 2003. Read review!

Frankel, Noralee. Stripping Gypsy: The Life of Gypsy Rose Lee , 2010. Read review!

Glasscock, Jessica. Striptease: From Gaslight To Spotlight , 2003. Read review!

Goldwyn, Liz. Pretty Things: The Last Generation of American Burlesque Queens, 2006. Read review!

Green, William. “Strippers and Coochers — the Quintessence of American Burlesque”. Western Popular Theatre. David Mayer and Kenneth Richards (ed.), 1977. Read review!

Grondin, Michel and James, Scarlett. Burlesque: The True Art of Seduction , 2011

Havoc, June. Early Havoc, 1959. Read review!

Havoc, June. More Havoc, 1980. Read review!

iMinds. Burlesque: Pop Culture , 2010. (ebook) Read review!

Janes, Brian C. It's All That Glitters: Portraits of Burlesque Performers in Their Homes , 2012. Read review!

Jones, Delilah and Williams, David. My Life Without Regret: From Occupied Nazi Germany to Las Vegas Stripper, 2014.

Jones, Libby. striptease , 1967. Read review!

Knox, Holly. Sally Rand: From Film to Fans , 1988. Read review!

Kotzan, Doris. My Journey: Burlesque: The Way It Was , 2005. Read review!

Kruh, David. Always Something Doing: Boston's Infamous Scollay Square , 1999. Read review!

Lee, Gypsy Rose. The G-String Murders , 1941. Read review!

Lee, Gypsy Rose. Gypsy: Memoirs of America's Most Celebrated Stripper , 1957. Read review!

Livingston, Bernard. Papa's Burlesque House: Growing Up in a Burlesque Theater , 1971. (fiction)  Read review!

Marsico, Tony. Wild Things: Burlesque Beauties And The Pets They Love, 2013. Read review!

McQueen, Sandy. The Queen of Hearts - The Life and Times of a Golden Age Burlesque Star, 2014. (ebook) Read review!

Meiselas, Susan. Carnival Strippers , 1976. Read review!

Merrill, Jane. The Showgirl Costume: An Illustrated History, 2019.

Miller, Neil. Banned in Boston , 2010. Read review!

Minsky, Morton and Milt Machlin. Minsky's Burlesque , 1986. Read review!

Myers, Nancy and David Hopkins.  The Wild and Wayward Tales of Tammi True, 2015. Read review!

O'Brien, Erin and Bob Perkoski. Rust Belt Burlesque: The Softer Side of a Heavy Metal Town, 2019.

Paris, Yvette. Queen of Burlesque: The Autobiography of Yvette Paris , 1990. Read review!

Porkpie, Jonny. The Corpse Wore Pasties , 2009. (fiction) Read review!

Poston, Dick. Burlesque Humor Revisited , 1977. Read review!

Preminger, Erik Lee. Gypsy and Me: At Home and on the Road With Gypsy Rose Lee , 1984. Read review!

Quinn, Carolyn. Mama Rose's Turn: The True Story of America's Most Notorious Stage Mother, 2013.

Redniss, Lauren. Century Girl: 100 Years in the Life of Doris Eaton Travis Last Living Star of the Ziegfeld Follies, 2006. Read review!

Reighley, Kurt B. and Aaron Bagley. United States of Americana: Backyard Chickens, Burlesque Beauties, and Handmade Bitters: A Field Guide to the New American Roots Movement, 2010. Read review!

Rella, Ettore. A History of Burlesque . San Francisco Theatre Research Series, v. 14, 1940. Read review!

Renay, Liz. My Face for the World to See , 1971. Read review!

Robbins, Trina. Forbidden City: The Golden Age of Chinese Nightclubs, 2010. Read review!

Rosebush, Judson. Burlesque Exotic Dancers of the 50s & 60s , 2010. Read review!

Ross, Becki. Burlesque West: Showgirls, Sex, and Sin in Postwar Vancouver, 2009.

Rothe, Len. The Queens of Burlesque: Vintage Photographs of the 1940s and 1950s , 1998. Read review!

Rothe, Len. The Bare Truth: Stars of Burlesque From the '40s and '50s , 1998. Read review!

Schwarz, Ted. Candy Barr: The Small-Town Texas Runaway Who Became a Darling of the Mob and the Queen of Las Vegas Burlesque , 2008. Read review!

Scott, Coleen. The Costumes of Burlesque 1866-2018, 2019

Shteir, Rachel. Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Show , 2004. Read review!

Shteir, Rachel. Gypsy: The Art of the Tease , 2009. Read review!

Slaughter, Kevin I. Queens of Burlesque: Ann Arbor, Ann Corio, Gypsy Rose Lee, Lili St. Cyr and Sally Rand , 2011. (ebook) Read review!

Slaughter, Kevin I. Dames of Burlesque: Blaze Starr, Tura Satana, Ricki Covette and Other Ecdysiasts , 2011. (ebook) Read review!

Slaughter, Kevin I. Dolls of Burlesque: Irma The Body, Dorian Dennis, Connie Vaughn and More Vintage Strip Tease Artists , 2011. (ebook) Read review!

Sobel, Bernard. A Pictorial History of Burlesque , 1956. Read review!

Schorow, Stephanie. Inside The Combat Zone: The Stripped Down Story of Boston's Most Notorious Neighborhood, 2017.

Sothern, Georgia. Georgia: My Life in Burlesque , 1972. Read review!

Starr, Blaze. Blaze Starr: My Life as Told to Huey Perry , 1974. Read review!

Stencell, A. W. Girl Show: Into the Canvas World of Bump and Grind , 2000. Read review!

Storm, Tempest. The Lady is a Vamp, 1987. Read review!

Strom, Robert. Lady of Burlesque: The Career of Gypsy Rose Lee , 2011. Read review!

Summers, Dusty. The Lady is a Stripper , 2001. Read review!

Summers, Dusty. The Golden G-String , 2002. (fiction) Read review!

Tracey, Lindalee. Growing Up Naked: My Years in Bump and Grind, 1997. Read review!

Vogt, Julie N. "Woman to Woman: Ann Corio and the Rehabilitation of American Burlesque". Dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2010. Read review!

Von Teese, Dita. Burlesque and the Art of the Teese/Fetish and the Art of the Teese , 2006. Read review!

Von Teese, Dita and Sheryl Nields. Dita: Stripteese , 2009. Read review!

Von Teese, Dita. Your Beauty Mark: The Ultimate Guide to Eccentric Glamour, 2015.

Weldon, Jo. The Burlesque Handbook , 2010. Read review!

Willson, Jacki. The Happy Stripper: Pleasures and Politics of the New Burlesque , 2008. Read review!

Wortley, Richard. A Pictorial History of Striptease: 100 Years of Undressing to Music , 1976. Read review!

Yeager, Bunny. Striptease Artists of the 1950s , 2008. Read review!

Zeidman, Irving. The American Burlesque Show , 1967. Read review!

Zemeckis, Leslie. Behind the Burly Q: The Story of Burlesque in America , 2013. Read review!

Zemeckis, Leslie. Goddess of Love Incarnate: The Life of Stripteuse Lili St. Cyr, 2015.

Zemeckis, Leslie. Feuding Fan Dancers: Faith Bacon, Sally Rand, and the Golden Age of the Showgirl, 2018. Read review!

 

Wish List

Here are some burlesque books we don't have yet, but would be happy to add to our library... (hint, hint)

Alexander, H. M. Strip Tease: The Vanished Art of Burlesque , 1938.
Briggeman, Jane. Burlesque: A Living History , 2009.
Briggeman, Jane. Burlesque: Legendary Stars of the Stage (second edition), 2011.
Brill, Bob. Fan Letters to a Stripper: A Patti Waggin Tale , 2009.
Carr, Michelle. The Velvet Hammer Burlesque , 2008.
Ganzl, Kurt. Lydia Thompson: Queen of Burlesque , 2002.
Klaw, Kitty. This is Burlesque: The Glitzy Guide , 2011.
Regehr, Kaitlyn and Matilda TemperleyThe League of Exotic Dancers: Legends from American Burlesque, 2017.
Scee, Trudy Irene. Dancing in Paradise, Burning in Hell: Women in Maine's Historic Working Class Dance Industry, 2016.
Sobel, Bernard. Burleycue: An Underground History of Burlesque Days , 1931.
A Pictorial History of Burlesque From A to Z

 

Supporters

These books aren't about burlesque, but they were written by friends and supporters of The Boston BeauTease and Naked Girls Reading Boston. You support us and we'll support you! (and burlesque dancers need a lot of support...)

Marrus (artist and Naked Girls Reading sponsor)
Lightsurfing: Living Life in the Front of My Mouth, 2009.


Andrew Kirschbaum (fantasy writer and game geek extraordinaire)
Monday and the Murdered Man, 2011. (look for a familiar name in the acknowledgements!)
Monday and the Counterfeit Corpse, 2013.

Rory O'Brien
The Afflicted Girl, 2019.
Gallows Hill, 2014. Read review!
Summerland, 2015.

Jennifer Pelland (science fiction writer and bellydancer)
Unwelcome Bodies, 2008.
Machine, 2012.


Rory Raven (historian and mentalist)
Haunted Providence: Strange Tales from the Smallest State, 2008.
Wicked Conduct: The Minister, the Mill Girl and the Murder that Captivated Old Rhode Island, 2009.
The Dorr War: Treason, Rebellion and the Fight for Reform in Rhode Island, 2010.
Burning the Gaspee: Revolution in Rhode Island, 2012. (look for familiar names in the acknowledgements!)


Teresa Noelle Roberts (erotica writer)
Lions' Pride: Duals and Donovans: The Different, Book 1, 2009.
Foxes' Den: Duals and Donovans: The Different, Book 2, 2010.
Fox's Folly: a Duals and Donovans story, 2012. Read review!
Cougar's Courage: Duals and Donovans: The Different, Book 3, 2013.
Witches' Waves: Duals and Donovans: The Different, Book 4, 2014.
Knowing the Ropes, 2013.
Lady Sun Has Risen: Seasons of Sorania Cycle, Book 1, 2010.
Rain At Midsummer: Seasons of Sorania Cycle, Book 2, 2010.
Threshing the Grain: Seasons of Sorania Cycle, Book 3, 2011.
A Satyr for Midwinter: Seasons of Sorania Cycle, Book 4, 2011.


Andrew Shaffer (inspiration for February 2011 Naked Girls Reading event)
Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love, 2011.
Literary Rogues: A Scandalous History of Wayward Authors, 2013. Read review!
 

Videos

Performances

Best of Burlesque

Instructional

Silk and Feather

Documentaries

Burlesque Undressed
Exotic World and the Burlesque Revival