{"product_id":"9781439903292","title":"Sesqui! : Greed, Graft, and the Forgotten World's Fair of 1926","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, 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. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Temple University Press,U.S.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42880335249483,"sku":"00000_00000_00000_00000","price":1426.13,"currency_code":"THB","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/kinokuniya.co.th\/products\/9781439903292","provider":"Books Kinokuniya Thailand","version":"1.0","type":"link"}