World of Fairs

In the depths of the Great Depression, when America's future seemed bleak, nearly 100 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. In "All the World's a Fair", Robert W. Rydell described how Victorian-era world's fairs helped create a blueprint for modern America. Now, with "World of Fairs", he shows how the interwar exhibitions heralded the arrival of modern America - a new empire of abundance built on old foundations of inequality. Rydell demonstrates how the fairs reached their height of popularity following the crash of 1929 by offering a vision of recovery from the Depression through the united powers of science and industry. Beneath the surface, however, lay persistent themes of imperialism and racism as government officials, industrial leaders, and intellectuals alike used the fairs to reinforce their own authority and the established social order. Rydell revisits several fairs, highlighting the 1926 Philadelphia Sesquicentennial Exposition, 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.