Ringling, The Last Laugh: This is the real story of the Ringling Brothers as told by John Ringling, the last surviving brother, in 1936.

Being 72 years of age I’ve know of the Ringling Brothers Circus my entire life and had the pleasure of taking in more than one performance. As an occupation traveling the country conducting auctions I often felt like a circus as in the early days I had a large truck that carried a tent. We set the tent up with chairs and a podium to conduct auctions under. We went in advance to put up posters and signs. So I felt somewhat of a kinship with the Cirky people.Recently I had the opportunity to visit the Ringling Circus museums and was captivated to see firsthand the history, the amazing organization of the travel, the putting up the tents, the performance then tearing it all down to go to the next town to do it all again. The Ringling home is unbelievable and a must to see.Since my visit I developed an aggressive desire to learn more about the Ringling family particularly John and my Search certainly led me to the right book. John Lancaster’s Ringling, The Last Life is a great read, I could hardly put it down. I highly recommend this book perhaps I overlooked it IIn the gift store at Sarasota but happy I found it on Amazon. Thank you Mr. Lancaster for keeping the circus aliveJim Owen Author of In Search Of A River

Fascinating story .. a life of hard work and determination despite the challenges .. loved it

Ringling is fascinating--it really pulls you in. You're immersed in the circus behind the scenes; that setting forms the backdrop of much of the book. Although it's fiction, the author's a Ringling descendant, and the characters in this Ringling family story ring as true as the circus milieu. A moving exploration of human strengths and frailties--highly recommended.

The book was interesting from a historical perspective. It was my book clubs book for the month and I look forward to the discussion next week. However it was very hard to follow so many names and jumped back and forth time wise. It was about twice too long with much repetition. My fav part was the the relationship between john ringing and his wife. I got a very strong feeling of how difficult their lives were.

Definitely would recommend this book after visiting the estate first i could relate to this book my better! Such a great family and a great circus!