Whether you’re a seasoned showgirl, a curious newcomer, or just a fan of the feathers and fringe, there’s nothing like diving into the rich, rhinestoned world of burlesque through the written word. From vintage legends to the neo-burlesque renaissance, here’s a curated list of essential reads that celebrate the artistry, history, and empowerment of the tease.
Burlesque History & Iconic Figures
Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Show
Rachel Shteir
Striptease explores the history of American striptease, focusing on striptease’s Golden Age: the years between the Jazz Age and the Sexual Revolution. The book examines the social and cultural forces that shaped striptease, including its performance in venues ranging from burlesque theaters to nightclubs and carnivals. Shteir introduces a wide range of colorful characters, with profiles of key figures like Gypsy Rose Lee, Lili St. Cyr, and Blaze Starr. The book offers an insightful look at an art form both celebrated and reviled in American culture.
Behind the Burly Q
Leslie Zemeckis
Based on the documentary of the same name, this book offers intimate, firsthand stories from the performers who lived through the Golden Age of burlesque. Lovingly interviewed by burlesque enthusiast Leslie Zemeckis, are former musicians, strippers, novelty acts, club owners, authors, and historians—assembled here for the first time ever to tell you just what really happened in a burlesque show. Behind the Burly Q is the definitive history of burlesque during its heyday and an invaluable oral history of an American art form. Funny, shocking, unbelievable, and heartbreaking, their stories will touch your hearts.
Brown Skin Showgirls
Leslie Cunningham
Brown Skin Showgirls is a black and white photographic collection of the Black and Cuban women who performed on the chorus line, and featured burlesque, exotic, rumba, salsa, calypso, striptease and female impersonation on Leon Claxtons Harlem in Havana Revue, 1936 to 1967. This book is guaranteed to expand your knowledge of Black and Cuban performers that shaped American popular culture
Brown Skin Showgirls, Vol. II: The Cuban Edition
Leslie Cunningham
Brown Skin Showgirls, Vol. II: The Cuban Edition is a black and white photographic collection of the Cuban women who performed rhumba, salsa and calypso on Leon Claxton’s “Harlem in Havana” Revue in the 1950s. This book is guaranteed to expand your knowledge of these talented performers who wowed American and Canadian audiences, and helped popularize Afro-Cuban and Latin entertainment in a way that still resonates today.
Goddess of Love Incarnate: The Life of Stripteuse Lili St. Cyr
Leslie Zemeckis
A deep dive into the life of one of burlesque’s most iconic queens, exploring her public performances and private struggles. St. Cyr was ahead of her time in facing the perils and prejudices of working women, and the book offers a portrait of a strong artistic figure who went against the traditional roles and mores expected of women at that time. Based on years of research, Goddess of Love Incarnate contains information and memorabilia that was almost lost forever. As an award winning documentary filmmaker and expert writer, Zemeckis brings St. Cyr back to life the way no other writer can, restoring Lili to her rightful place in American history.
Gypsy: A Memoir
Gypsy Rose Lee
The legendary Gypsy Rose Lee’s own memoir is as witty and bold as her performances. The memoir, which Gypsy began as a series of pieces for The New Yorker, contains photographs and newspaper clippings from her personal scrapbooks and an afterword by her son, Erik Lee Preminger. At turns touching and hilarious, Gypsy describes her childhood trouping across 1920s America through her rise to stardom as The Queen of Burlesque in 1930s New York.
Fearless and Free: A Memoir
Josephine Baker
First published in France in 1949, now published in English, we hear Josephine in her own voice: charming, passionate, and brave. Her words are thrilling and intimate, like she’s talking with her friends over after-show drinks in her dressing room. Through her own telling, we come to know a woman who danced to the top of the world and left her unforgettable mark on it. After stealing the spotlight as a teenaged Broadway performer during the height of the Harlem Renaissance, Josephine then took Paris by storm, dazzling audiences across the Roaring Twenties. And then when World War II broke out, Josephine became a decorated spy for the French Resistance — her celebrity worked as her cover. She later joined the Civil Rights movement in the US, boycotting segregated concert venues, and speaking at the March on Washington alongside Martin Luther King Jr.
Tempest Storm: The Lady Is a Vamp
Tempest Storm
Candid and compelling, this memoir by the infamous flame-haired bombshell gives insight into the personal life behind the stage lights. She shares the story of her transformation from a poor sharecropper’s daughter to one of the most glamorous and enduring of burlesque legends. But she was more than just a celebrated superstar who made “class” part of the vocabulary needed to describe exotic dancing; she was also a wife and mother, juggling the demands of home and career.
Neo-Burlesque & Contemporary Culture
The Burlesque Handbook
Jo Weldon
A must for anyone looking to hit the stage. It’s part how-to, part pep talk, and all sparkle—perfect for performers or students of the craft. Written by Jo Weldon, award-winning founder of the New York School of Burlesque, this book features easy-to-follow suggestions and exercises for developing stage-worthy confidence, presence, and sexiness. You’ll learn about the fabulous makeup, costumes, moves, grooves, and attitudes of burlesque. The Burlesque Handbook is the must-have guide for everyone interested in this vibrant and wildly popular performance art, providing inspiration and practical information that readers can take straight from the page to the stage.
Burlesque and the New Bump-n-Grind
Michelle Baldwin
One of the first books to document the neo-burlesque revival, this is a snapshot of the early 2000s scene and the performers who reshaped the art. Though burlesque survived in the back of our cultural consciousness after being pushed aside by modern stripping in the ’50s, the revival that began in the early ’90s brought burlesque back to the forefront of popular culture.
Neo-Burlesque: Striptease as Transformation
Lynn Sally
A smart, insightful exploration of how modern burlesque challenges norms, embraces diversity, and empowers performers across identities. Performance studies scholar and acclaimed burlesque artist Lynn Sally offers an inside look at the history, culture, and philosophy of New York’s neo-burlesque scene. Revealing how twenty-first century neo-burlesque is in constant dialogue with the classic burlesque of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, she considers how modern-day performers use camp to comment on preconceived notions of femininity. She also explores how the striptease performer directs the audience’s gaze, putting on layers of meaning while taking layers of clothing off.
Stunning Visuals & Coffee Table Favorites
Burlesque and The Art of the Teese / Fetish and the Art of the Teese
Dita Von Teese
A lavish two-in-one book from the reigning queen of neo-burlesque. One half focuses on her classic routines, the other on her fetish artistry. On one side, she shows her world of gorgeous pin-ups, tantalizing stripteases, and femmes fatales. Flip over for fantasies in fetish, with dramatic costumes and the allure of submission.
Burlesque: Exotic Dancers of the 50s and 60s
Judson Rosebush
This book features 125 burlesque queens and belly dancing stars from the 1950s and 1960s, portrayed in 8″ x 10″ glossy “booking photos.” These attention-grabbing photos are the publicity shots that dancers handed out to booking agents, managers, theaters, press, and fans. The stars include Crystal Blue, Toni Rose “The Glow Girl,” Bella Dona, Marlo Brando, Sunny Day “The Butterfly Goddess,” Dixie Evans “The Marilyn Monroe of Burlesque,” Lala Jazir, and Dusty Summers “Las Vegas’ Only Nude Magician.”
The Costumes of Burlesque: 1866-2018
Coleen Scott
The Costumes of Burlesque: 1866-2018 is the first volume to inclusively document burlesque costume from its birth in the 1860’s through the global burlesque movement in 2018. This lushly illustrated book presents the history and development of this American art form by documenting the origins, influencers, and genuine articles that created its aesthetic. Showcases of legendary performers, including Lydia Thompson, Gypsy Rose Lee, Sally Rand, Bettie Page, Kitten Natividad, and Dita Von Teese, demonstrate costume styles through the years.