Baker, Roger, Drag: A History of Female Impersonation in the Performing Arts, New York University Press, 1995.

This well-documented book, written in a lively, engaging style by a British journalist, describes female impersonation in the performing arts, going back to Elizabethan times when women were not allowed on the stage and all female parts were played by men and boys. The book includes a chapter on Japanese and Chinese female impersonators.

Bullough, Vern L., and Bonnie Bullough, Cross Dressing, Sex, and Gender, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993.

In this culmination of thirty years of research, the authors survey cross dressing and gender impersonation throughout history and in a variety of cultures. They also examine the medical, biological, psychological, and sociological findings that have been presented in modern scientific literature.

Leider, Emily Wortis, Becoming Mae West, Farrar, Straus Giroux, 1997.

This biography emphasizes how West developed her distinctive persona...