World of Fairs: The Century-Of-Progress Expositions

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: Robert W. Rydell
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 11/01/1993
Pages: 280
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.03lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.08w x 0.74d
ISBN13: 9780226732374
ISBN10: 0226732371
BISAC Categories:
- History | United States | 20th Century

About the Author
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.