The Electrifying Fall of Rainbow City: Spectacle and Assassination at the 1901 World's Fair

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. From a deranged laborer who stalked and shot President William McKinley to a sixty-year-old woman who rode a barrel over Niagara Falls, to two astonishing acts-a little person and an elephant-who turned the tables on their duplicitous manager, Creighton reveals the myriad power struggles that would personify modern America. The Buffalo fair announced the new century, but in ways nobody expected.

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The Electrifying Fall of Rainbow City: Spectacle and Assassination at the 1901 World's Fair

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. From a deranged laborer who stalked and shot President William McKinley to a sixty-year-old woman who rode a barrel over Niagara Falls, to two astonishing acts-a little person and an elephant-who turned the tables on their duplicitous manager, Creighton reveals the myriad power struggles that would personify modern America. The Buffalo fair announced the new century, but in ways nobody expected.

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The Electrifying Fall of Rainbow City: Spectacle and Assassination at the 1901 World's Fair

The Electrifying Fall of Rainbow City: Spectacle and Assassination at the 1901 World's Fair

The Electrifying Fall of Rainbow City: Spectacle and Assassination at the 1901 World's Fair

The Electrifying Fall of Rainbow City: Spectacle and Assassination at the 1901 World's Fair

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Overview

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. From a deranged laborer who stalked and shot President William McKinley to a sixty-year-old woman who rode a barrel over Niagara Falls, to two astonishing acts-a little person and an elephant-who turned the tables on their duplicitous manager, Creighton reveals the myriad power struggles that would personify modern America. The Buffalo fair announced the new century, but in ways nobody expected.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781681682488
Publisher: HighBridge Company
Publication date: 10/18/2016
Edition description: Unabridged
Product dimensions: 6.40(w) x 5.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Margaret Creighton is the author of Colors of Courage, a runner-up for the Lincoln Prize, The Electrifying Fall of Rainbow City, and other works. She is a professor of history at Bates College and lives in Yarmouth, Maine.

Callie Beaulieu has been an actress for several decades. Classically trained, she is predominantly a theater actress, and her work has been seen around the country. Callie recently returned to the U.S. after spending nearly a decade living in the Caribbean. She is a proud member of Actors Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

1 Rainbow City 9

2 Summer in the City 30

3 The Favored Guest 50

4 The Blood-Colored Temple 74

5 The Emergency 95

6 The Rise and the Fall 127

7 Aftershock 140

8 Freefall 162

9 The Escape of the Doll Lady 188

10 The Elephant 216

11 The Timekeepers 238

Acknowledgments 275

Illustration Credits 279

Notes 283

Selected Bibliography 309

Index 317

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