Less celebrated than the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, the 1933-1934 Century of Progress Exposition brought visitors face-to-face with gleaming American consumerism in the midst of the Great Depression. Lindsay Fullerton draws on a wealth of personal photographs, scrapbooks, oral histories, and writings to illuminate the wildly different experiences of fairgoers against the backdrop of a city steeped in poverty and segregation.

The Exposition took place amidst massive changes sparked by expansion of mass media, Franklin Roosevelt's election, the repeal of Prohibition, and the Great Migration. A diverse cross-section of Chicagoans informs Fullerton's history of the event in the context of the fast-changing America of the interwar era. These personal accounts tell stories of how attendees interpreted their own experiences while being surrounded by whiz-bang products and full-throated evangelism on the benefits of progress.

A colorful people's history, Ephemeral City takes readers inside the other Chicago World's Fair and how visitors interacted with a pivotal moment in American history.

About the Author
Lindsay Fullerton is an historian and media studies scholar. She grew up in Chicagoland and holds a doctorate from the Northwestern University School of Communication.

Reviews
"Drawing on more than 150 first-hand accounts, Lindsay Fullerton has created a rich, nuanced view of Chicago's Century of Progress Exposition that goes well beyond the official narrative. Ephemeral City is richly illustrated from photographs, newspaper articles, and postcards. The reader sees the fair not only from the perspective of visitors but also from journalists and the thousands of workers who found employment there during the Great Depression."--Ann Keating, author of Rising Up from Indian Country: The Battle of Fort Dearborn and the Birth of Chicago



Book Information
ISBN 9780252046438
Author Lindsay Fullerton
Format Hardback
Page Count 328
Imprint University of Illinois Press
Publisher University of Illinois Press
Weight(grams) 454g