Sesqui!

In 1916, Philadelphia department-store magnate John Wanamaker launched plans for a Sesqui-Centennial International Exposition in 1926. It would be a magnificent world's fair to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The Sesqui would also transform sooty, industrial Philadelphia into a beautiful Beaux Arts city. However, when the Sesqui opened on May 31, 1926, in the remote, muddy swamps of South Philadelphia, the fair was unfinished, with a few shabbily built and mostly empty structures. Crowds stayed away in droves: fewer than five million paying customers attended, costing the city millions of dollars. Philadelphia became a national scandala city so corrupt that one political boss could kidnap an entire worlds fair. In his fascinating history Sesqui!, noted historian Thomas Keels situates this ill-fated celebrationa personal boondoggle by the all-powerful Congressman William S. Vareagainst the transformations taking place in America during the 1920s. Keels provides a comprehensive account of the Sesqui as a meeting ground for cultural changes sweeping the country: womens and African-American rights, anti-Semitism, eugenics, Prohibition, and technological advances.