Centennial

The Great Fair of 1876 and the Invention of America's Future

De: Fergus M. Bordewich

Narrado por: Sean Patrick Hopkins

The spectacular story of the Great Centennial Exhibition of 1876—held in the shadow of a highly contested presidential election that triggered the collapse of Reconstruction and laid the foundations of the Republican Party we know today

“Those who were there felt that the wheel of history itself had turned before their eyes.”

Held at Fairmount Park, in Philadelphia, the extravaganza attracted 10 million Americans—nearly 20 percent of the population, among them the likes of P. T. Barnum, Frederick Douglass, and Mark Twain—and visitors from around the world, including the emperor of Brazil, Dom Pedro (who couldn’t get enough of the exhibition). On display were inventions that signaled the changing landscape of American life, from the typewriter to the telephone to Heinz Tomato Ketchup.

This celebration of America’s past 100 years came at a moment when its future seemed more precarious than ever—as big money infiltrated government, Black Americans struggled to exercise their hard-won freedom, underpaid workers waged the first national labor strike, feminists demanded rights for women, and Native tribes went to war to repel the advancing settlement in the West.

In this engrossing, kaleidoscopic history, Fergus Bordewich brings the reader down onto the fairgrounds, animating these converging crises through the lives of four protagonists—Rutherford B. Hayes, Alexander Graham Bell, railroad magnate Tom Scott, and sculptor Edmonia Lewis. Centennial reveals a country in metamorphosis, still striving to live up to the promise of its founders while bracing for the tidal wave of the twentieth century.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“As exuberant and immersive as the U. S. centennial itself, Fergus Boirdewich’s bracing narrative envelops us in the optimism, patriotic fervor, overweening pride, and limitless ambition of 1876 America. With reunion and peace, the country celebrated itself with inventive abandon, sometimes forsaking its democratic roots. Fergus Bordewich brings his customary, irresistible blend of rich period detail and expert retrospective analysis to a story that should give us both pleasure and pause as we mark America250. A rich and rewarding read.” —Harold Holzer, Winner of the Lincoln Prize and author of Brought Forth on This Continent

“Bordewich’s Centennial immerses us in the wondrous Philadelphia exposition of 1876 with all its patriotic fervor, dynamic displays of industrial might, amazing inventions (the proto-telephone), silly gadgets (the combo suitcase/bathtub), and ambitious art. Outside the fair, the intense societal battles to shape this ascendant Gilded Age America feel at times eerily familiar: electoral convulsions amidst a 'rancorous political climate,' an 'odious oligarchy with its plutocratic privilege,' and rising White Supremacy targeting Blacks and immigrants. And yet . . . the nation’s most democratic ideals are there, too, as America barrels towards the twentieth century.” —Jill Jonnes, author of Empires of Light

“With this piercing history of the 1876 Centennial, Fergus Bordewich illustrates the genesis of American exceptionalism and creates a cautionary parable for the Age of Trump. Every chapter dramatizes the gaps between our leaders’ self-congratulatory claims and their flawed, corrupt performance throughout our history.” —Howell Raines, author of Silent Cavalry