World of Fairs

by Rydell, Robert W.

• ISBN13: 9780226732374
• ISBN10: 0226732371
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1993-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

In the depths of the Great Depression, when America's future seemed bleak, nearly one hundred million people visited expositions celebrating the "century of progress." These fairs fired the national imagination and served as cultural icons on which Americans fixed their hopes for prosperity and power. World of Fairs continues Robert W. Rydell's unique cultural history--begun in his acclaimed All the World's a Fair--this time focusing on the interwar exhibitions. He shows how the ideas of a few--particularly artists, architects, and scientists--were broadcast to millions, proclaiming the arrival of modern America--a new empire of abundance build on old foundations of inequality. Rydell revisits several fairs, highlighting the 1926 Philadelphia Sesquicentennial, the 1931 Paris Colonial Exposition, the 1933-34 Chicago Century of Progress Exposition, the 1935-36 San Diego California Pacific Exposition, the 1936 Dallas Texas Centennial Exposition, the 1937 Cleveland Great Lakes and International Exposition, the 1939-40 San Francisco Golden Gate International Exposition, the 1939-40 New York World's Fair, and the 1958 Brussels Universal Exposition.

Author Biography

Robert W. Rydell is professor of history at Montana State University. His All the World's A Fair is also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

An Exhibitionary Culture

Forerunners of the Century-of-Progress Expositions

"Fitter Families for Future Firesides": Eugenics Exhibitions between the Wars

The Century-of-Progress Expositions

Coloniale Moderne

The Empire of Science

Future Perfect

African Americans in the World of Tomorrow

The New Day Dawns: The American Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair Conclusion An Essay on Archival Sources

Notes

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.