Sesqui!: Greed, Graft, and the Forgotten World's Fair of 1926 Contributor(s): Keels, Thomas H. (Author) |
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ISBN: 1439903298 ISBN-13: 9781439903292 Publisher: Temple University Press OUR PRICE: $36.00 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: March 2017 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - History | United States - State & Local - Middle Atlantic (dc, De, Md, Nj, Ny, Pa) - History | United States - 20th Century |
Dewey: 607.347 |
LCCN: 2016022168 |
Physical Information: 1.4" H x 6.5" W x 9.1" (1.75 lbs) 376 pages |
Themes: - Chronological Period - 1920's - Locality - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Geographic Orientation - Pennsylvania |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: In 1916, Philadelphia department-store magnate John Wanamaker launched plans for a Sesqui-Centennial International Exposition in 1926. It would be a magnificent world's fair to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The "Sesqui" would also transform sooty, industrial Philadelphia into a beautiful Beaux Arts city. However, when the Sesqui opened on May 31, 1926, in the remote, muddy swamps of South Philadelphia, the fair was unfinished, with a few shabbily built and mostly empty structures. Crowds stayed away in droves: fewer than five million paying customers attended, costing the city millions of dollars. Philadelphia became a national scandal--a city so corrupt that one political boss could kidnap an entire world's fair. In his fascinating history Sesqui , noted historian Thomas Keels situates this ill-fated celebration--a personal boondoggle by the all-powerful Congressman William S. Vare--against the transformations taking place in America during the 1920s. Keels provides a comprehensive account of the Sesqui as a meeting ground for cultural changes sweeping the country: women's and African-American rights, anti-Semitism, eugenics, Prohibition, and technological advances. |