All the World's a Fair: Visions of Empire at American International Expositions, 1876-1916

All the World's a Fair: Visions of Empire at American International Expositions, 1876-1916 by Rydell, Robert W.. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780226732404.

A groundbreaking account of the ways the United States used worlds fairs to extend its empire abroad and racial hierarchies at home In All the Worlds a Fair, Robert W. Rydell argues that Americas nineteenth-century worlds fairs served to legitimate racial exploitation at home and the creation of an empire abroad. He looks in particular to the "ethnological" displays of nonwhites—set up by showmen but endorsed by prominent anthropologists—which lent scientific credibility to popular racial attitudes and helped build public support for domestic and foreign policies. Rydells lively and thought-provoking study draws on archival records, newspaper and magazine articles, guidebooks, popular novels, and oral histories to tell a new story of American history and empire.