The most popular performing arts books of 2026

The Last Kings of Hollywood Coppola, Lucas, Spielberg—and the Battle for the Soul of American Cinema

Paul Fischer

Disney How to Draw Classic Characters

Dorling Kindersley

Middle Eastern Dance Histories, Theories, Performances

Anthony Shay

Speakeasies to Symphonies The Jazz Genius of James P. Johnson

Scott E. Brown

Disney

Kalikolehua Hurley

Writing in the Flesh Essays on My Lives, My Bodies, My Families, My Places, My Movies

Thomas Waugh

Fabulating Ecologies Screening Caution, Citizenry, and the Machinic Apocalypse

Anik Sarkar

Gothic Dreams and Nightmares

Carol Davison

Disney

James Asmus, Vivian Jao, Liz Tarpy

LUCKY LOSER.

Michael Kosta

Poison and the Popular Imagination Representations, Iconographies, and Meanings in Media and Culture

Lorna Piatti-Farnell

Here for All the Reasons Why We Watch the Bachelor

Ilana Masad, Stevie K. Seibert Desjarlais

Disney

Kalikolehua Hurley

Oh, Biscuits!

OH

Caroline Aherne Rebel in Disguise

David Scott

Making Up the Star Makeup, Femininity, Race and Ageing in Hollywood

Cathy Lomax

Robert Richardson

ROBERT. HOJDOVA RICHARDSON (JANA.)

Opening Doors Reimagining the American Musical

John Doyle

Fred Rogers (Legendary Lives)

Betsy Rathburn

Ritwik Ghatak

Dance and Silence In Conversation

Vipavinee Artpradid, Petra Johnson

The Tale of Scrawny Billy J.

Andrew Biel

Producing Chinese Reality Television Power, Precarity and Working Cultures

Sophia Tianyu Zhang

Thwistle Ping!

Robbie Arnett