Designing Tomorrow America's World's Fairs of the 1930s Robert W. Rydell, Laura Burd Schiavo, Robert Bennett, Matthew F. Bokovoy, Robert Alexander Gonzalez, Neil Harris, Lisa Diane Schrenk, Kristina Wilson, Richard Guy Wilson

In the midst of the Great Depression, America's World's Fairs of the 1930s gave hope to millions, sustaining the assembled with visions of future progress. These grand expositions in Chicago, San Diego, Dallas, Cleveland, New York and San Francisco showcased an optimistic, consumerist future society and symbolized the Modernist message of progress through design. "Designing Tomorrow" celebrates the influence and impact of these international expositions. Offering an overview of the fairs and detailed discussions of individual works, distinguished authors examine how designers reconciled radical 'European' Modern style with American tradition. Works by Edward H. Bennet, Gilbert Rohde, George Keck, Richard Neutra, and others illuminate the ways in which Modernism became an integral component of the vocabulary of American design. Additional essays highlight the visual power of these expositions, featuring rare artefacts and photographs of objects including models and plans for 'the houses and cities of tomorrow', streamlined trains, modern furnishings, and the first televisions.

Robert Bennett is assistant professor at Montana State University; Matthew Bokovoy is acquisitions editor for Native American and Indigenous Studies and the history of the American West at the University of Nebraska Press; Robert Alexander Gonzalez is assistant professor at Tulane University and the founding editor of the international journal Aula: Architecture and Urbanism in Las Americas; Neil Harris is the Preston and Sterling Morton Professor Emeritus of History and Art History at the University of Chicago; Robert W. Rydell is professor of history at Montana State University; Laura Burd Schiavo is assistant professor of museum studies at George Washington University; Lisa D. Schrenk is associate professor of architecture and art history at Norwich University; Kristina Wilson is associate professor of art history at Clark University; Richard Guy Wilson holds the Commonwealth Professor's Chair in Architectural History at the University of Virginia.

"Thanks to this book's beautiful design and exceptional reproductions of archival imagery, understanding how convincingly these world's fairs embodied dreams of a new modern future is easier than ever. Highly recommended."—J.E. Housefield Choice

"An informative, rich and coherent work that proves particularly relevant given its publication at another moment of economic turmoil."—Julia Tatiana Bailey, Burlington Magazine

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