Chicago's Grand Midway: A Walk around the World at the Columbian Exposition - Softcover

Bolotin, Norman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0252082427 ISBN 13: 9780252082429

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 2017

Synopsis

Created as a centerpiece for the Columbian Exposition of 1893, the Midway Plaisance was for one summer the world's most wondrous thoroughfare. A journey along its length immersed millions of spellbound visitors in a spectacle that merged exoticism with enlightenment and artistic crafts with dizzying technical achievement. Norman Bolotin, with Christine Laing, draws on his vast knowledge of the 1893 exposition to escort readers down the Midway. Step by step he takes you past forbidding Dahomeyans and dozens of belly dancers until, at last, you reach the colossal Ferris Wheel with cabins the size of street cars. The tour reveals the immense scale and variety of the experience in sensual detail--the thirsty crowds and the pungent aromas of exotic foods, the Libbey Glass Factory and the screams from the Ice Railway, the snake charmers and the hawkers selling a thousand souvenirs. Throughout, Bolotin details how the organizers--encouraging patrons to spend a little here and a little there--brought off an extravaganza that paid its costs and achieved every one of its goals, including profitability for the fair and immortality.

About this title

Review:

"A must-have for readers fascinated by world's fairs and turn-of-the-nineteenth-century America."--Booklist

"Interesting and informative. . . . The author's affection for the material and their deep knowledge of the history, layout, and nuances of the Midway attractions shine through and make for easy reading." --Journal of American Culture
 

About the Author:

Norman Bolotin and Christine Laing manage the History Bank in Woodinville, Washington. Their books include The World's Columbian Exposition: The Chicago World's Fair of 1893 .

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0252082427
• ISBN 13: 9780252082429
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 152