Ford!

GM!

Rocket transportation of the future!

The superhighway of tomorrow!

Milk!

Milk?

This is the end of the 1939 World’s Fair section. I’ve really enjoyed doing this one. It isn’t the entire book, but a glimpse at the best pictures and articles. It was a fair devoted to our tomorrows, without realizing what stood in the way. Not all of these things came to pass, of course, but it is remarkable to think of what might have been, and how right our great-grandparents were.

Go here for the last four pages. Or be nostalgic about it, like me, and start over at the beginning.

Tinkering with the atom leads to gigantism!

Pharmaceuticals!

Plastics!

It isn’t so hard to see why people in 1939 were so consumed with the possibility of the future. Now if only there was a way I could put my gigantic pills in a Tupperware bowl to keep them fresh …

See the latest installments from the fair guide here. Start at the beginning of the tour here.

More communists!

Public health!

Death!

Attendees of the 1939 World’s Fair had a lot on their minds. And weighty issues too, and not all of them were desirable. Your fairs today are about rides, bizarre fried food inventions and the occasional agricultural success story. You never face the grim reaper or the red menace.

Fair-goers today have it made.

You can see all of the entries in the fair section starting here.

Italy!

Turkey!

Venezuela!

What do these three great nations have in common? Besides conceptual art meant to explain and stymie? And late war turns against Germany? They are all featured in the 1939 World’s Fair section.

Pretty obscure piece of trivia, huh?

Start from the beginning, here.

The Soviets!

The French and English!

Japan!

And now we come to the sadly ironic history portion of the book. Go here for the latest from the fair. Or start from the beginning.