Fear and Loathing at the Crystal Palace: the Failure of America's First World's Fair

Inspired by the spectacular success of London's Crystal Palace Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations in 1851, an enthusiastic group of New Yorkers hoped to repeat that achievement two years later and so position the New World firmly at the center of a new global economy. Instead, they ended up stoking ongoing American debate over the changing meaning of industry in these years of industrial revolution.