Burlesque Reading List

A list of books to read if interested in learning more about burlesque history.

• Wortley, Richard. “A Pictorial History of Striptease. 100 Years of Undressing to Music” Octopus Books. 1976
• Sobel, Bernard. “A Pictorial History of Burlesque.” G.P. Putnams Sons; First Edition. 1956.
• Cunningham, Leslie. “Brown Skin Show Girls.” CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. July 2017
• Cunningham, Leslie. “Brown Skin Showgirls, The Cuban Edition”. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. 2018
• Briggman, Jane. “Burlesque: Legendary Stars of the Stage.” 2004
• Detzler, Roger. “Queens of Burlesque: Murray Korean’s Pinups from the 50’s”. Asylum Publications. 2021
• O’Brien, Erin & Bob Perkoski. “Rust Belt Burlesque.” Ohio University Press. 2019
• Glasscock, Jessica. “Striptease; from Gaslight to Spotlight.” Harry N. Abrams. 2003.
• Roth, Len. “The Bare Truth… Stars of Burlesque from the 40s & 50s.” A Schiffer Pictorial Essay. Schiffer Pub Ltd. 1998
• Scott, Coleen. “The Costumes of Burlesque; 1866-2018.” Routledge, 1st Edition. 2019
• Rothe, Len. “The Queens of Burlesque: Vintage Photographs from the 1940s and 1950s.” A Schiffer Pictorial Essay. Schiffer Pub Ltd. 1997
• Farnsworth, Marjorie. “The Ziegfeld Follies; A History in Text and Pictures.” Putnam, First Edition. 1965
• Zemeckis, Leslie. “Behind the Burly Q: The Story of Burlesque in America.” Skyhorse Publications. 2014
• Allen, Robert C. “Horrible Pettiness: Burlesque and American Culture.” The University of North Carolina Press. 1991
• Gänzl, Kurt. “Lydia Thompson: Queen of Burlesque.” Forgotten Stars of Musical Theatre. Routledge. 2002
• McNair, Brian. “Striptease Culture: Sex, Media and the Democratization of Desire.” Routledge. 2002
• Sellers-Young, Barbara. “Belly Dance, Pilgrimage and Identity” Palgrave Macmillan. 2016
• Sichel, Marion. “History of Women’s Costume” Batsford Academic and Educational LTD, London. 1984
• Hansen, Henny Harald. “Costumes and Styles: The Evolution of Fashion from Early Egypt to the Present with 700 Individual Figures in Full Colour” E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc. 1956
• Hobin, Tina. “Belly Dance: The Dance of Mother Earth” Marion Boyars Publishers. 2003
• Sherman, Jane. “The Drama of Denishawn Dance.” Wesleyan University Press. Middletown, Connecticut. 1979
• Jones, Patrick D. And Jared Leighton. “In Their Own Image: Artifacts from the Great Plains Black History Museum.” The Donning Company Publishers. 2014
• Rosebush, Judson. “Burlesque: Exotic Dancers of the 50s & 60s.” Schiffer Publishing Ltd. 2010
• James, Scarlett and Michel Grondin. “BURLESQUE L’art et le jeu de la séduction.” 2011. Groupe Cogito Medias Inc.
• Bogle, Donald. “Brown Sugar; Eighty Years of America’s Black Female Superstars.” Designed by Joan Peckolick. Harmony Books. 1980