Seinfeld

SEINFELD BLOG

Coney Island: The People's Playground

by: Michael Immerso

: Coney Island: The People's Playground
See Larger Image
List Price: $21.95
You Pay Only: $14.93
You Save: $7.02 (32%)
Prices subject to change.



Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours




Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 974.723
EAN: 9780813531380
ISBN: 0813531381
Label: Rutgers University Press
Manufacturer: Rutgers University Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 208
Publication Date: 2002-10
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Sales Rank: 292037
Studio: Rutgers University Press



Related Items:

Editorial Review:

Product Description:
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Coney Island was the uncontested epicenter of America's emerging mass culture. It was the quintessential American resort: the birthplace of the amusement park, the hot dog, and the roller coaster. Its history is one of breathtaking transformation and re-invention. Celebrated for its glittering amusement parks and its enormous crowds, it was in times past a mecca of grand hotels, race tracks, beer gardens, gambling dens, concert saloons, and dance halls. A new mass culture began to take shape there. Its harshest critics decried it as Bedlam by the Sea, but others deemed it a necessary outlet for the masses where the democratic spirit was granted free rein. Despite its precipitous decline, Coney Island remains a metaphor for the American amusement industry and the hundreds of honky-tonk resorts and amusement parks it has spawned. Coney Island: The People's Playground is the first new history of Coney Island in almost half a century, tracing its evolution and cultural impact as an amusement center from its earliest development as a seaside resort to the present day Mermaid Parade. Presented in a photodocumentary format featuring more than one hundred vintage photos, archival material, personal accounts, and contemporary sources, the book evokes the atmosphere of the resort as experienced by those who visited it during its heyday. Through the reminiscences of nineteenth and twentieth century writers, literary figures, and amusement historians, Michael Immerso traces Coney Island's remarkable evolution and subsequent decline, while at the same time examining the remarkable individuals and complex social forces that contributed to its rise and fall. Coney Island is not merely a documentary of the amusement industry or the story of a fabled amusement park, but rather a narrative of the way Americans, and particularly immigrants and urban Americans, came to regard the pursuit of leisure as part of their national birthright.



Customer Reviews
Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - Good research on the rich history of Coney!
I just recieved this book and already have read it half through. The history aspect written about ... Read More


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Carry Me Back To Old Coney Island
In this excellent book, Michal Immerso meticulously traces Coney Islands' wild history, from its origins ... Read More


Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - Not Just a Pretty Face
I just got Michael Immerso's book on Coney Island as a gift to remind me of the excitement and magic I felt ... Read More


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - All the Sights and Sounds
Michael Immerso has taken a slice of America's past and captured it with all the sights, sounds, and glitter ... Read More


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - An American Wonderland
Michael Immerso once again shows he is a cultural historian of the first order. His first book, "Newark's Little ... Read More

More Coney Island: The People's Playground Reviews

Browse for similar items by category:







Copyright ©2003, Mark Carey.