Tomorrow-Land

October 14, 2013
In this ambitious, hectic popular history, journalist Tirella shows how various events affected the creation and success of the eponymous fair. “New York’s Machiavellian Master Builder” Robert Moses managed to be named head of the World’s Fair Corporation in 1960 and became its mastermind. His grand design was challenged along the way by Walt Disney, looking to expand his entertainment empire, and by civil rights activists unhappy with the lack of racial diversity on the fair’s board of directors and its work crews. Even popular music aficionados tried to tell Moses his business, pressuring him to hire the Beatles to perform—to which he responded: “Absolutely nothing doing.” But Moses couldn’t control everything. A civil rights protest cropped up inside the fair on its opening day and Harlem erupted in race riots that summer, interfering with fair attendance. Ken Kesey bused in his Merry Pranksters and declared the fair a flop. The press mostly agreed. The most exciting event took place near the fair, rather than at it: the Beatles’ 1965 Shea Stadium concert. In trying to ignore the culture of the 1960s to introduce fairgoers to Tomorrow-Land, Moses nearly killed his beloved fair. In attempting to pack all the major events of 1964–1965 into his book, Tirella overstuffs an otherwise intriguing story. Eight-page photo insert.

November 15, 2013
The story of New York's second World's Fair in the context of its tumultuous times. Robert Moses, the city's bullish master builder who was responsible for several of its colossal bridges, tunnels, parks and parkways and who had a hand in the construction of the first World's Fair in 1939, maneuvered his way to power for the entire 1964-1965 version. His ultimate goal was to turn the fair's grounds in Flushing Meadow Park in Queens into a rival for the jewel in Manhattan's crown, Central Park. But Moses' Eisenhower-era sensibility and the park's Kennedy-esque theme of "peace through understanding" would collide with the reality of post-assassination politics and a cultural revolution in mores inspired by the underground and popular arts. Signs of troubles ahead included a threatened opening day "stall-in" on the highways leading to Flushing Meadows by local civil rights groups to protest Moses' poor record in hiring minorities to build, staff and administer the fair and a disastrous convocation speech by President Lyndon Johnson that was interrupted repeatedly by catcalls from college students, many of whom would go on to form the Students for a Democratic Society. First-time author Tirella, a former reporter for the New York Times, adroitly switches focus from Moses and the fair to external events in the city, nation and world and back again, following several disparate threads--the civil rights dialectic between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., a New York City obscenity crusade that targeted Lenny Bruce and the gay bohemian subculture, the parallel paths of the Beatles and Bob Dylan, the escalation of the Vietnam War--and never losing control of the narrative's forward momentum. With a huge cast of characters that includes Walt Disney, Andy Warhol, Muhammad Ali and the pope, the World's Fair provides an excellent perspective on the 1960s in America. Top-notch popular history.

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December 15, 2013
When New York's Parks Commissioner Robert Moses began planning the 196465 World's Fair in 1961, he enjoyed the support of President John F. Kennedy and many wealthy businessmen. Styled as the Master Builder, 73-year-old Moses constructed highways, bridges, and parks. But his bullying ways ran up against a new generation of political activists who threatened traffic stall-ins and sit-ins when the fair opened just five months after Kennedy's assassination. While other pavilions showcased Goya, El Greco, and Michelangelo's La Pieta, the art establishment scoffed at the New York pavilion's pop artists Robert Indiana, Roy Lichtenstein, and Andy Warhol. Tirella's story flows with a wealth of historical content that reveals how strongly the World's Fair reflected the times. He covers, for example, the rise of Malcolm X, Bob Dylan, and the Beatles, and how the fair highlighted new inventions, including color TVs and shiny Ford Mustangs. Walt Disney even introduced concepts there that ended up in his nascent Florida theme park, including a ride-around-the-world exhibit filled with tiny singing dolls. Yes, it was a small world, after all.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)