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Sesqui!: Greed, Graft, and the Forgotten World's Fair of 1926 Thomas H. Keels
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Sesqui!: Greed, Graft, and the Forgotten World's Fair of 1926
Thomas H. Keels
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.
376 pages
| Media | Books Hardcover Book (Book with hard spine and cover) |
| Released | March 20, 2017 |
| ISBN13 | 9781439903292 |
| Publishers | Temple University Press,U.S. |
| Pages | 376 |
| Dimensions | 152 × 229 × 36 mm · 793 g |
