Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
Just like being there!, July 15, 2001
I'm one of those people who has never been to New York City, though I would love to see it. This book wonderfully transports you to that city in the years of 1939-1940 and to that World's Fair. It was a time that people thought of science and technology as something that had the power to transform their lives in a positive manner, unlike the misplaced cynicism encountered today, even though we have now realized many of the dreams of that long ago fair, and many more. David Gelernter takes you on a tour of that fair, including the various national and corporate exibits and pavilions, many were absolutely amazing, even by today's standards. Several are described in intricate detail, and being in the 1930's electro-mechanical control systems were the rule, some being very complex. Gelernter also portrays some typical hypothetical people visiting the fair and what they did. How people dressed back then, and also the underlying societal feelings, are covered, the war in Europe being on everyones mind. This is a very well written and comprehensive account of this most famous of fairs, I immensely enjoyed it, and Gelernter covers that last few hours of the Fair with poignancy as it closed in 1940. This account makes me wish I could travel back in time and see it myself, a wistful longing not to be.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
You are there at the Fair, September 9, 2005
I've always been intrigued by the iconic images of the Trylon and Perisphere, from when I first saw them on a U.S Postage stamp many years ago. This book offers a way to travel back in time to live through the fair, led by the author through the eyes of fictional characters experiencing the (factual) fair. What is amazing is how the author skillfully weaves together everything to create such a compelling story. I had also bought the (100%) factual books "New York's 1939-1940 World's Fair (Postcard history series) and Dover publications' "The New York World's Fair. Both of these book offer lots of nice snapshots, but do not make the Fair come to life as does
David Gelernter"s "1939: The Lost World of the Fair." Highly recommended!
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Quirky but passionate and evocative, June 5, 2002
Recently I became interested in the year 1939 as a "hinge" year; so many things happened that year and it was a dividing point between the awful world of the 30s and the second World War. So I considered writing an article detailing that year, including the movies released (Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz), the events leading up the the outbreak of the war, and, of course the Fair, with the wonderful and iconic Trylon and Perisphere. Others may have covered the movies and the war, but Gelernter has covered the fair in many (not all) of the ways I wanted to hear about it. He has several theses which he presents well, whether or not you agree with him:1. The world (or the U.S.A.) was more optimistic than we are. 2. The utopia presented in the exhibits of the fair has come about in many ways. 3. There was a sense of authority in institutions, and a measure of trust and security given to them, much of which has been lost today. 4. We are not significantly more sophisticated than the citizens of that time. 5. Men wore ties and didn't mind. Some of his theses are more superficial than others .... I really enjoyed this book. The author communicates a love of the fair as being not only an event in itself, but emblematic of the culture and times within which it took place. He does that in two ways: by branching off for extended meditations on the cultural differences between then and now, and by interjecting a kind of a love story as narrated by a fair-goer as she remembers going with her then-boyfriend. Quite a bit of plot regarding this love story is worked into the book, which makes the book an odd mix, as if it had taken place during the sinking of Titanic or during the Civil War. Hmmmm.... Anyway, although this wouldn't be the stopping place for books about the fair (I was desperate for more pictures, at least), it's a wonderful starting point to find out about the year. Best of all, he treats the people and attitudes of the time seriously and doesn't let present-day cynicism interfere with his appraisal. I'm not sure I agree with all of his conclusions but I like what he says about the "American religion", manners, and cultural knowledge in general, and the chapter on "Dynamite, Manhatten, 1939" is worth reading on its own; in fact, it's almost a precis of what he is trying to say.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Best Book about the Fair
This is one of my all-time favorite books. Gelernter tells us that he intends to take us on a "virtual reality" tour of the 1939 fair.
Published on October 5, 2004 by John P Bernat
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A Byzantine Style Novel
As much as I hate to disagree with the other reviewers, I found this book to be a disjointed labyrinth of 1939 NYWF information; a love story; and the author's own views and...
Published on March 10, 2002
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A Fair Deal
This work does get at the sense of the New York World's Fair of 1939 by interpolating fact with fiction.
Published on May 5, 2000
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I recommend any person reading this book
Oh, dear. At least you can count on high school students to be honest (and earnest). As a person reading Gelernter's book, I guess *I* am not recommended by the reader from Los...
Published on October 12, 1999
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Great book that brings you back to the fair!
A story set at the time of the 1939 World's Fair. The story was interesting but not very compelling. But I was totally engrossed in the details of the Fair!
Published on October 12, 1999 by David Skirmont
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Make it stop!!!
I am in high school and this was a book recommended to me by my US history teacher. I thought that the book was far from linear and that the author branched out on too many...
Published on August 13, 1999
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Excellent book on the Fair
I thoroughly enjoyed this book's combination of history and fiction. It was very well written, very well researched and the descriptions of the 1939 World's Fair are truly...
Published on April 28, 1999
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Both insightful and delightful....
Gelernter presents a powerful argument(s) for the moral and motivational decline of our society since the late 1930's- as highlighted by the theme and focus of the 1939 World's...
Published on February 5, 1999
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Potentially great
the author's thesis that 1939 is essentially different from our own time makes it almost impossible for him to accomplish his 2nd purpose, to make us feel like we were there...
Published on December 7, 1998
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Brilliant work: insightful, vast, cogent, witty, poignant
This book is essential reading for any serious student of American history. David Gelernter takes the reader on a tour of the New York 1939 World's Fair; an event that, to steal...
Published on October 19, 1998 by Russell Golkow
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