50
Used, New, and Out of Print Books - We Buy and Sell - Powell's Books
Cart |
|  my account  |  wish list  |  help   |  800-878-7323
Hello, | Login
MENU
  • Browse
    • New Arrivals
    • Bestsellers
    • Featured Preorders
    • Award Winners
    • Audio Books
    • See All Subjects
  • Used
  • Staff Picks
    • Staff Picks
    • Picks of the Month
    • 50 Books for 50 Years
    • 25 PNW Books to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Books From the 21st Century
    • 25 Memoirs to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Global Books to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Women to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Books to Read Before You Die
  • Gifts
    • Gift Cards & eGift Cards
    • Powell's Souvenirs
    • Journals and Notebooks
    • socks
    • Games
  • Sell Books
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Find A Store

Don't Miss

  • Powell's Essential List: 25 Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books
  • Summer Sale: 20% Off Select Books
  • United Stories of America: 20% Off Select Nonfiction Titles
  • Powell's Author Events
  • Oregon Battle of the Books
  • Audio Books

Visit Our Stores


Kelsey Ford: Powell's Picks Spotlight: Emma Seckel's 'The Wild Hunt' (0 comment)
Every summer, my extended family and I rent houses in a small town along the Oregon coast. For a week, we take long walks along the beach, spend afternoons cooking elaborate meals, play Fascination in the arcade one town over...
Read More»
  • Rodrigo Fresán: “The Book You Wrote Is Equal to the Songs You Heard”: Rodrigo Fresán's Playlist for 'The Remembered Part' (0 comment)
  • Jenifer Hixson: Finding the Essential Truth in Your Story (0 comment)
  • Jenifer Hixson: Finding the Essential Truth in Your Story (0 comment)

{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##

Amusing the Million Coney Island at the Turn of the Century

by John F Kasson
Amusing the Million Coney Island at the Turn of the Century

  • Comment on this title
  • Synopses & Reviews
  • Read an Excerpt

ISBN13: 9780809001330
ISBN10: 0809001330
Condition: Standard


All Product Details

View Larger ImageView Larger Images
Ships free on qualified orders.
Add to Cart
$6.95
List Price:$18.00
Used Trade Paperback
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
QtyStore
1Burnside

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

Coney Island: the name still resonates with a sense of racy Brooklyn excitement, the echo of beach-front popular entertainment before World War I. Amusing the Million examines the historical context in which Coney Island made its reputation as an amusement park and shows how America's changing social and economic conditions formed the basis of a new mass culture. Exploring it afresh in this way, John Kasson shows Coney Island no longer as the object of nostalgia but as a harbinger of modernity--and the many photographs, lithographs, engravings, and other reproductions with which he amplifies his text support this lively thesis.

John F. Kasson, who teaches history and American studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is the author of Houdini, Tarzan and the Perfect Man, Amusing the Million, Rudeness and Civility, and Civilizing the Machine.

Coney Island: the name still resonates with a sense of racy Brooklyn excitement, the echo of beach-front popular entertainment before World War I.  Amusing the Million examines the historical context in which Coney Island made its reputation as an amusement park and shows how America's changing social and economic conditions formed the basis of a new mass culture. Exploring it afresh in this way, John Kasson shows Coney Island no longer as the object of nostalgia but as a harbinger of modernity—and the many photographs, lithographs, engravings, and other reproductions with which he amplifies his text support this thesis. "This is what a history of popular culture should be: a delightful account of a fascinating subject and a serious contribution to our understanding of major transition in American culture."John G. Cawelti, University of Chicago

"Brilliant . . . Through skillfully chosen photographs and highly imaginative careful analysis, Kasson implicitly argues that Coney Island was American appetite, America-as-joke, incarnate . . . Meticulous and exciting, [Amusing the Million is] clearly destined to be a classic in the still inchoate field of popular culture."Ann Douglas, The New Republic

"Because he treats our frivolities seriously, John Kasson has produced an important book which helps us all understand ourselves. His inquiry into the nature and significance of Coney Island as part of the American experience provides a brilliant device for understanding major transformations in American culture at the turn of the century . . . A delight to read, look at, and ponder...itself a great amusement for the mind."Warren Susman, Rutgers University

"Not only delightful reading but a perceptive look at a familiar American institution..Social-cultural history ought to be done this way more often."Russel B. Nye, Michigan State University

Review

"This is what a history of popular culture should be: a delightful account of a fascinating subject and a serious contribution to our understanding of major transition in American culture."--John G. Cawelti, University of Chicago

"Because he treats our frivolities seriously, John Kasson has produced an important book which helps us all understand ourselves. His inquiry into the nature and significance of Coney Island as part of the American experience provides a brilliant device for understanding major transformations in American culture at the turn of the century...A delight to read, look at, and ponder...itself a great amusement for the mind."--Warren Susman, Rutgers University

"Not only delightful reading but a perceptive look at a familiar American institution..Social-cultural history ought to be done this way more often."--Russel B. Nye, Michigan State University

Synopsis

Coney Island: the name still resonates with a sense of racy Brooklyn excitement, the echo of beach-front popular entertainment before World War I. Amusing the Million examines the historical context in which Coney Island made its reputation as an amusement park and shows how America's changing social and economic conditions formed the basis of a new mass culture. Exploring it afresh in this way, John Kasson shows Coney Island no longer as the object of nostalgia but as a harbinger of modernity--and the many photographs, lithographs, engravings, and other reproductions with which he amplifies his text support this lively thesis.


About the Author

John F. Kasson, who teaches history and American studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is the author of Houdini, Tarzan and the Perfect Man, Amusing the Million, Rudeness and Civility, and Civilizing the Machine.


What Our Readers Are Saying

Be the first to share your thoughts on this title!




Product Details

ISBN:
9780809001330
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
08/01/1978
Publisher:
HILL & WANG
Series info:
American Century
Pages:
132
Height:
.40IN
Width:
6.80IN
Thickness:
.50
Series:
American century series
Number of Units:
1
Illustration:
Yes
Copyright Year:
1978
Series Volume:
19
UPC Code:
2800809001332
Author:
John F. Kasson
Author:
John F Kasson
Author:
John F. Kasson
Subject:
New York
Subject:
History
Subject:
Social life and customs
Subject:
World History-General
Subject:
New york (n.y.)
Subject:
Coney Island
Subject:
Amusement parks
Subject:
United States/State & Local/Middle Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA)

Ships free on qualified orders.
Add to Cart
$6.95
List Price:$18.00
Used Trade Paperback
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
QtyStore
1Burnside
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram

  • Help
  • Guarantee
  • My Account
  • Careers
  • About Us
  • Security
  • Wish List
  • Partners
  • Contact Us
  • Shipping
  • Sitemap
  • © 2022 POWELLS.COM Terms

{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##