The End of the Innocence: The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair - Hardcover

Lawrence R. Samuel

3.55

55 ratings by Goodreads

9780815608905: The End of the Innocence: The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 081560890X ISBN 13: 9780815608905

Publisher: Syracuse University Press, 2007

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

From April to October in 1964 and 1965, some 52 million people from around the world flocked to the New York World’s Fair, an experience that lives on in the memory of many individuals and in America’s collective consciousness. Taking a perceptive look back at “the last of the great world’s fairs,” Lawrence R. Samuel offers a thought-provoking portrait of this seminal event and of the cultural climate that surrounded it. Compared to its predecessors the fair was, he suggests, “the ugly duckling of global expositions.” Sheer attendance made it one of the most popular of these fairs, but its place in the chronology of our nation earned it a more sobering distinction. Opening five months after President Kennedy’s assassination, the fair allowed millions to celebrate international brotherhood while the conflict in Vietnam came to a boil. This event was perhaps the last time so many from so far could gather to praise harmony while ignoring cruel realities on such a gargantuan scale. This World’s Fair glorified the postwar American dream of limitless optimism even as a counterculture of sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll came into being. It could rightly have been called the last gasp of that dream: The End of the Innocence.
Samuel’s work charts the birth of the fair from inception in 1959 to demolition in 1966 and provides a broad overview of the social and cultural dynamics that led to the birth of the event. It also traces events and thematic aspects of the fair, with its focus on science, technology, and the world of the future. Accessible, entertaining, and informative, the book contains an abundance of photographs and relies largely on the words of contemporary journalists and materials drawn from exhibitors.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From the Back Cover:

A poetic masterpiece, thought-provoking, and of sound scholarship.
--Philip E. Schoenberg, President, New York Talks and Walks "On the eve of opening day, a 12 billion candlepower beam of light was turned on over the fairgrounds, visible from New Haven, Connecticut, to Atlantic City, New Jersey, and outshining Times Square. Soon the world's largest fountain would be turned on and a 610-bell carillon would ring out `There's No Business Like Show Business.' Already a highly contentious political battleground and social phenomenon, `the single greatest event in history' was finally about to begin."

--From The End of the Innocence

About the Author:

Lawrence R. Samuel's books include Pledging Allegiance: American Identity and the Bond Drive of World War II and Brought to You By: Television Advertising and the American Dream. He lives in Miami Beach and New York.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.