The electrifying fall of Rainbow City : spectacle and assassination at the 1901 World's Fair

Select an Action

Title:

The electrifying fall of Rainbow City : spectacle and assassination at the 1901 World's Fair

Author:

Creighton, Margaret S., 1949- author.

ISBN:

9780393247503

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

332 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Contents:

Rainbow City -- Summer in the city -- The favored guest -- The blood-colored temple -- The emergency -- The rise and the fall -- Aftershock -- Freefall -- The escape of the Doll Lady -- The elephant -- The timekeepers.

Personal Subject:

McKinley, William, 1843-1901-Assassination.

Conference Subject:

Pan-American Exposition (1901 : Buffalo, N.Y.)

Pan-American Exposition (1901 : Buffalo, N.Y.) -- Biography.

Subject Term:

Exhibitions -- Social aspects -- New York (State) -- Buffalo -- History -- 20th century.

Spectacular, The -- Social aspects -- New York (State) -- Buffalo -- History -- 20th century.

Scandals -- New York (State) -- Buffalo -- History -- 20th century.

Geographic Term:

Buffalo (N.Y.) -- Social life and customs -- 20th century.

Buffalo (N.Y.) -- Social conditions -- 20th century.

Genre:

Biographies

Summary:

"The 1901 Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, meant to herald the twentieth century, went tragically, spectacularly, awry. In 1901, Buffalo, New York, the eighth biggest city in America, wanted to launch the new century with the Pan American Exposition. It would showcase the Western hemisphere and bring millions of people to western New York. With Niagara Falls as a drawing card and with stunning colors and electric lights, promoters believed it would be bigger, better, and--literally--more brilliant than Chicago's White City of 1893. Weaving together narratives of both notorious and forgotten figures, Margaret Creighton unveils the fair's big tragedy and its lesser-known scandals."--Provided by publisher.

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove)	607.3474797 CRE	Searching... Unknown
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury)	607.3474797 CRE	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Stillwater Public Library	607.3474797 CRE	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Wildwood Library (Mahtomedi)	607.3474797 CRE	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

In 1901, Buffalo was the eighth-largest city in the United States, and its leaders had big dreams. They would host a world's fair, showcasing the Americas, and bring millions of people to western New York. With nearby Niagara Falls as a drawing card and with stunning colors and electric lights, they hoped the fair would be more popular and more brilliant, literally, than Chicago's White City of 1893.

The Exposition opened with fanfare; its wonders, both strange and magnificent, dazzled the public. Then tragedy struck. In the early autumn of 1901, an assassin stalked the fairgrounds, waiting for President William McKinley. That was shocking enough, but there were more surprises in store. A female daredevil captivated crowds by trying to ride a barrel over Niagara Falls. Apache leader Geronimo startled visitors with a controversial performance. And a showman called the Animal King, the self-proclaimed star of the Midway, announced that one of his acts, the smallest woman in the world and the fair's "mascot," had been kidnapped. Then he staged the attempted electrocution of an elephant.

In this extraordinary account, Margaret S. Creighton lifts the curtain on the assassination of McKinley as well as on the fair's lesser-known battles, involving both notorious and forgotten figures. In a story that is by turns suspenseful, heartrending, and triumphant, she reveals the myriad power struggles that not only marked the Exposition but shaped the new century.

Author Notes

Margaret S. Creighton is the author of The Colors of Courage: Gettysburg's Forgotten History, a finalist for the Lincoln Prize, and other works. She is a professor of history at Bates College and lives in Maine.

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In the tradition and style of Erik Larsen, Creighton explores the intersecting lives of common and elite people as they came together at the 1901 World's Fair in Buffalo, N.Y., where President McKinley was assassinated. Though McKinley's assassination is a major focus, Creighton presents many other fascinating people who were also present, from animal tamers and barrel riders over the Niagara Falls to the man who tried to protect the president and many others. Reader Beaulieu moves deliberately through the narration, with intentional pauses and hesitations when the prose demands it and a bit more pitch and vigor in the more intense scenes. Her straightforward style of delivery coupled with Creighton's keen scene setting and mix of characters serves listeners well in this fascinating slice of history. A Norton hardcover. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

Forget the Windy City and its 1893 World's Fair. Buffalo, the Queen City of the Great Lakes, was going to show upstart Chicago a thing or two when it hosted its own grand event, the Pan-American Exposition of 1901. The Pan-American opened at a time when major cities used such milestone gatherings to showcase their industrial prowess. Unfortunately, the Pan-American grabbed the spotlight for all the wrong reasons: President McKinley was assassinated while attending the fair, and all manner of mistreatment of animals and workers surfaced to mar the slick image Buffalo was banking on projecting. Creighton (The Colors of Courage, 2005) shines in her meticulous research and lively descriptions of the many characters who stood out at the Pan-American, including a cruel animal trainer, a charming young Mexican named Chiquita, and two stunt women who attempted to ride Niagara Falls in sealed barrels. This compelling slice of American history exposes capitalism's dark excesses even in the midst of a dazzling celebration of the nation's technical know-how and belief in progress.--Apte, Poornima Copyright 2016 Booklist

Kirkus Review

How scandals undermined the success of a worlds fair that ushered in a new century.In May 1901, the Pan-American Exposition opened in Buffalo, New York, with the ambitious goal of elevating the city to the prominence of Chicago, host of the dazzling 1893 Worlds Fair. The Queen City of the Lakes, as Buffalo was known, reinvented itself as the Rainbow City, for the fairs multicolored design and illumination. Despite attracting millions of visitorsalthough fewer than hoped forthe event ultimately failed its backers goal; it became, instead, infamous as the site of President William McKinleys assassination. In a lively, well-researched history, Creighton (History/Bates Coll.; The Colors of Courage: Gettysburgs Forgotten History: Immigrants, Women, and African Americans in the Civil Wars Defining Battle, 2005, etc.) juxtaposes that momentous national event with three other scandals that beset the fair: a plan (that ultimately failed) to publicly electrocute Jumbo II, a performing elephant; a womans daring stunt of riding in a barrel over Niagara Falls; and the personal and professional travails of Alice Cenda, a midget called Chiquita, under contract with the shady animal trainer Frank Bostock. The scandals connect to a theme of exploitation: of workers by capitalists, which motivated Leon Czolgosz, McKinleys assassin; of animals by unscrupulous trainers; of vulnerable sideshow performers by impresarios; and of hopeful entertainers by a culture that rewarded sensationalism, as represented by Annie Taylor, the 63-year-old who plummeted down the falls. Drawing on newspaper reports, contemporary records, and memoirs (although one schoolteachers banal record of her many visits to the exposition could well have been dropped), the author creates a richly detailed narrative. She reveals, for example, that at an exposition boasting its grand illumination, the surgeons operating on McKinley worked under an eight-watt bulb. Ultimately, the authors choice of events that offered a rebuttal to the grand Exposition seems arbitrary, and setting them in the context of a presidents murder trivializes them. An entertaining history that could have more potently exemplified power and oppression in turn-of-the-century America. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Library Journal Review

The 1901 World's Fair, which was held in Buffalo (then the eighth largest city in the United States) was an amazing showcase of everything considered modern at the time. Promoters hoped to bring millions of people to the city with the expo, the show of colors and electric lights, and Niagara Falls. No one could have anticipated that a stalker would assassinate President McKinley, that a 61-year-old woman would ride a barrel over the falls, or the many ways the event would change history. Creighton (history, Bates Coll.; Colors of Courage: Immigrants, Women, and African Americans in the Civil War's Defining Battle) has done a thorough job of researching the events and scandals, large and small, surrounding the 1901 World's Fair. Callie Beaulieu offers an engaging reading. VERDICT The book offers interesting and unexpected insights into the turn of the 20th century in America. ["An excellent and entertaining history for all readers": LJ 9/1/16 review of the Norton hc."]-Pam Kingsbury, Univ. of North Alabama, Florence © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Prologue	p. 1
1 Rainbow City	p. 9
2 Summer in the City	p. 30
3 The Favored Guest	p. 50
4 The Blood-Colored Temple	p. 74
5 The Emergency	p. 95
6 The Rise and the Fall	p. 127
7 Aftershock	p. 140
8 Freefall	p. 162
9 The Escape of the Doll Lady	p. 188
10 The Elephant	p. 216
11 The Timekeepers	p. 238
Acknowledgments	p. 275
Illustration Credits	p. 279
Notes	p. 283
Selected Bibliography	p. 309
Index	p. 317

Available:*

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Booklist Review

Kirkus Review

Library Journal Review

Table of Contents

Helpful Links

Research Links

Contact

Events and Rooms

Follow Us

Today's Hours