The 1939-1940 New York World's Fair promised a new age of global communication, nationwide superhighways, and suburban living-and it delivered. Crafted by designers such as Walter Dorwin Teague, Norman Bel Geddes, and Raymond Loewy, the twelve-hundred-acre fair in Flushing Meadows sold visitors a streamlined world of consumer goods-teardrop cars and smoking robots, electric dishwashers and nylon stockings-manufactured by companies such as Westinghouse, General Motors, and AT&T. In New York's 1939-1940 World's Fair, insightful narrative accompanies dazzling postcards, advertisements, and illustrations of Democracity, Futurama, the Lagoon of Nations, and the famed Trylon and Perisphere, recalling the promise and optimism of a fair that enchanted forty-five million visitors.
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About the Author
Andrew F. Wood holds a doctorate in rhetoric and historiography and writes frequently about world's fairs as well as contemporary topics, such as airport design and "new urbanism." A frequent commentator on technology and roadside Americana, Wood has been interviewed by National Public Radio, USA Today, and the BBC. He teaches in the Department of Communication Studies at San Jose State University.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Yesterday doesn't look too good,
This review is from: New York's 1939–1940 World's Fair (NY) (Postcard History Series) (Paperback)
Well over half a century ago now and the greatest Fair of them all still captures the imagination. Everything was just right in 1939 for this wonderful extravaganza of streamline architecture and the promise of new products and processes to make things available for all on every Main Street. This postcard history does its best to capture the optimism of the Fair but unfortunately I don't think it does a very good job.
Most of the cards in the book were originally color illustrations of the various pavilions and sites. This type of graphic product used bright garish colors and frequently created shapes of buildings and outdoor scenes with color only. The cards, as reproduced in the book, just don't work in black and white, while the few postcards that were originally photographs, either in color or black and white look fine. You can see plenty of these bright cards on Fair websites in color or search out Herbert Rolfes 'The 1939 New York World's Fair in Postcards' (ISBN 155562068X) which has fifty-two full color cards and wonderful they look. Two excellent black and white photobooks are 'The New York World's Fair 1939/1940 (ISBN 0486234940) with 155 photos by Richard Wurts with excellent coverage and detailed captions and a coffee-table book by Paul Van Dort '1939: New York World's Fair Photo Collection' (ISBN 0972646809) 150 pages with 271 photos. This book, amazingly, is priced at $19.95 with Andrew Wood's book list priced at $19.99 for less pages and pictures. Incidentally you can get the Van Dort book from the author, just put his name into Google or A9 and click World's Fair on his website. ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a wonderful visual look back at an important time,
By
This review is from: New York's 1939–1940 World's Fair (NY) (Postcard History Series) (Paperback)
This is a wonderful look back at a time of innovation and promise for the future.
The book contains many photographs and is a fun retrospective of a time of great expectation.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
MORE GREETINGS FROM NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR. This linen postcard offers an overview of the attraction found at the fair. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York World's Fair, Exposition Souvenir Corporation, Grinnell Litho Company, Lake County, Discovery Museum, Billy Rose, Guide Book, Lagoon of Nations, New York City, Constitution Mall, Richard Musante, Amusement Zone, Consolidated Edison, Aviation Building, Tichnor Quality Views, York Worlds Fair, General Motors Building, Government Zone, Interborough News Company, San Francisco, Firestone Tire, Rainbow Avenue, Rubber Company, Andre Fouilhoux, Flushing Meadows New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
MORE GREETINGS FROM NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR. This linen postcard offers an overview of the attraction found at the fair. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York World's Fair, Exposition Souvenir Corporation, Grinnell Litho Company, Lake County, Discovery Museum, Billy Rose, Guide Book, Lagoon of Nations, New York City, Constitution Mall, Richard Musante, Amusement Zone, Consolidated Edison, Aviation Building, Tichnor Quality Views, York Worlds Fair, General Motors Building, Government Zone, Interborough News Company, San Francisco, Firestone Tire, Rainbow Avenue, Rubber Company, Andre Fouilhoux, Flushing Meadows New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 3
books:
- Treasure Island (Signet Classics) by Robert Louis Stevenson on page 53
- Golden Gate Bridge by Cedco Publishing on page 86
- National Register of Historic Places by Rh Value Publishing in Front Matter
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