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The Amusement Park: 900 Years of Thrills and Spills, and the Dreamers and Schemers Who Built Them
Experience the electrifying, never-before-told true story of amusement parks, from the middle ages to present day, and meet the colorful (and sometimes criminal) characters who are responsible for their enchanting charms.Step right up! The Amusement Park is a rich, anecdotal history that begins nine centuries ago with the "pleasure gardens" of Europe and England and ends with the most elaborate modern parks in the world. It's a history told largely through the stories of the colorful, sometimes hedonistic characters who built them, like Joseph and Nicholas Schenck and Marcus Loew Railroad barons Andrew Mellon and Henry E. HuntingtonThe men who ultimately destroyed the parks, including Robert Moses and Fred TrumpGifted artisans and craft-people who brought the parks to lifeAn amazing cast of supporting players, from Al Capone to Annie OakleyAnd, of course, this is a full-throttle celebration of the rides, those marvels of engineering and heart-stopping thrills from an author, Stephen Silverman, whose life-long passion for his subject shines through. The parks and fairs featured include the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, Coney Island, Steeplechase Park, Dreamland, Euclid Beach Park, Cedar Point, Palisades Park, Ferrari World, Dollywood, Sea World, Six Flags Great Adventure, Universal Studios, Disney World and Disneyland, and many more.
433 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 7, 2019
60 people are currently reading
406 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
August 5, 2019
Good, informative, thorough read about the progression from court jesters all the way to Harry Potter land at Universal Studios. Very detailed accounts about the beginning of parks, specifically Coney Island. I wish the images could have been a little larger. I understand 19th century illustrations are small, but modern images could have been a little bit bigger.
July 14, 2022
Did you know there were looping wooden rollercoasters that carried riders upside down as early as 1848?
Or that the dunking booth was originally a racist midway game called the African Dip, where black men taunted the wives and girlfriends of white customers into hitting a bullseye target that sent them splashing into a tank of water?
You'll find many surprising facts in this well-written focus on the history of amusement parks by Stephen Silverman. The whole thing is told mostly through anecdotes concerning some of the landmark fairs and parks throughout 900 years of history, along with the pioneers of the industry and the technological innovations behind the essential attractions and rides. Of course, we've got the Ferris wheel and the carousel. And as a rollercoaster fanatic, I loved reading about the early coasters, some of which are still around today, such as Leap the Dips.
One of the first American coasters I still wish was in operation was the Mauch Chunk "Switch-back", an old coal railway converted into a tourist attraction that took riders through the scenic Poconos, along a wild mountain brook, and skirted along the edge of a quarry and a burning mine, sometimes at speeds of 65 mph.
There's a lot of important history tied in to amusement parks, and Silverman covers it all. U.S. President McKinley was assassinated at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago provided the victims for the first documented serial killer in America, and the Eiffel Tower, a product of the 1889 Paris Exposition, remains a testament to engineering to this day. And on and on.
Complete with colorful illustrations, postcards, advertisements, schematics, and photographs, the book is a visual delight as well as a fine read. So if I peaked your interest, go find yourself a copy and enjoy.
Or that the dunking booth was originally a racist midway game called the African Dip, where black men taunted the wives and girlfriends of white customers into hitting a bullseye target that sent them splashing into a tank of water?
You'll find many surprising facts in this well-written focus on the history of amusement parks by Stephen Silverman. The whole thing is told mostly through anecdotes concerning some of the landmark fairs and parks throughout 900 years of history, along with the pioneers of the industry and the technological innovations behind the essential attractions and rides. Of course, we've got the Ferris wheel and the carousel. And as a rollercoaster fanatic, I loved reading about the early coasters, some of which are still around today, such as Leap the Dips.
One of the first American coasters I still wish was in operation was the Mauch Chunk "Switch-back", an old coal railway converted into a tourist attraction that took riders through the scenic Poconos, along a wild mountain brook, and skirted along the edge of a quarry and a burning mine, sometimes at speeds of 65 mph.
There's a lot of important history tied in to amusement parks, and Silverman covers it all. U.S. President McKinley was assassinated at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago provided the victims for the first documented serial killer in America, and the Eiffel Tower, a product of the 1889 Paris Exposition, remains a testament to engineering to this day. And on and on.
Complete with colorful illustrations, postcards, advertisements, schematics, and photographs, the book is a visual delight as well as a fine read. So if I peaked your interest, go find yourself a copy and enjoy.
August 17, 2020
A comprehensive, all inclusive look at the history of amusement parks. Starting way back in 1130 with the Bartholomew Fair in London through today, it is quite a read. I really enjoyed the beginning with the crazy and often audacious characters that made the early parks possible. The development of rides and games and other general amusement type of activities was fascinating and humorous. Stephen Silverman writes in a way to engage the reader with small cliff hangers at the end of chapters and a "wait to you see the next thing they thought of" style. From a birds-eye view, it is interesting to see how technology and societal changes changed the amusement park through time. The book is comprehensive, code word for long, but worth it if this subject matter interests you. One thing I definitely learned is that fire seems to be the nemesis of amusement parks. So many parks burned to the ground to be rebuilt and then burned to the ground again! He touches on race and gender discrimination, architecture, aesthetics, safety, and other subjects that revolve around the parks. But mainly, it is about the progression of amusement parks and their imprint on society.
July 1, 2021
Possibly the greatest book on themed entertainment (more than just amusement parks) ever written.
March 25, 2021
I really wanted to like this because I have a bit of an obsession with roller coasters. However, it was organized into biographical sketches, which wasn't the best way to present how amusement parks developed over time. It went back and forth wildly between places, time periods, and types of parks. At the end, I'm still not sure what the takeaway is, which wasn't helped by the fact that there is no conclusion to the book at all. Sadly disappointed.
June 16, 2019
I was not aware the history of amusement parks is this long and geographically Diverse until discovering this book! An enjoyable read. I was unhappy Cedar Point's Blue Streak didn't merit mention, until a quick web search showed my 8 year old self vastly overestimated its age (There is lots on Cedar Point as a whole). Right up to the minute and well researched and written.
September 30, 2020
I really enjoyed this fun and informative history of the amusement park. I learned so much about early versions of what could be called amusement parks and the rides that came later. My only qualm, and maybe a sequel could cure this, is I’d love more information on some of the other parks that existed around the country that are no more.
January 30, 2021
Overall this was a fascinating look at the history of Amusement parks, however I do wish the pacing could have been more consistent. The last century was covered in a very short space of time with the majority of that given over to Disneyland which was slightly disappointing.
April 10, 2020
Who knew that amusement park had such a rich 900 year history? The Coney Island section is the most entertaining part of this meandering read.
May 17, 2020
This book dragged in the middle as it seemed just to be a list of parks with roughly the same rides. The beginning and the end were good.
January 23, 2020
Review title: The serious business of amusement
Stephen Silverman's history of the amusement park back to the St. Bartholomew Fair first held in the Smithfield area of London in 1130, an annual religious festival that sprouted a carnival, market, and a variety of live shows: freaks, magicians, plays, animal acts, even public executions. William Wallace, of Braveheart fame, was hung and disemboweled to open the fair in 1305.
As you can see by this opening, Silverman takes a broad definition of constitutes an "amusement park"; other early incarnations include public gardens and picnic grounds which marked their transition to amusement by the addition of permanent rides and games to attract and distract growing numbers of paying customers. The advent of steam and then electric power added impetus to the motion of gravity in the amusement park ride, leading to the thrill of every longer and taller tracked rides. One of the intriguing nuggets Silverman scatters throughout his history is that these "roller coasters" (that name would not come until the 19th century) trace their roots back to Catherine the Great's obsession with toboggan slides in 18th century Russia. The first artificial "flying mountain" was built in 1774, and the addition of wheels to make them year-round gave root to the persistence of the word for "roller coaster" in many European languages translating literally to "Russian mountains" as lasting linguistic evidence of their history.
Silverman progresses through the beach resorts (Blackpool, Coney Island) to the trolley parks of the early 20th century, to the transition to the park built around a theme, hence "theme park", dating to Knott's Berry Farm after World War II and before Disneyland lit the fuse of expansion for the history of the park since. While he follows the history chronologically, he doesn't always connect the progression to common cultural, sociological, financial, or geographic themes, so his chapters tend to be more anecdotal than analytical. The anecdotes are very often of financial failure or physical disaster, fires, floods, and shifting consumer patterns compressing the history of many parks to a few decades or even a few short seasons. The amusement park business through history has not been for the faint of heart or the fiscally challenged. Many times an entrepreneur's love and sweat ended in bankruptcy and sale to a corporate buyer or another startup with a bright idea that crashed and burned as often as it lit a successful flame.
The book is well researched and heavily sourced (with 60 pages of bibliography and endnotes), with many illustrations. While the illustrations are nicely reproduced on heavy beautifully-printed paper stock, the standard page size leaves many of the pictures too small to see detail. A coffee table-sized book would have been more cumbersome to read and expensive to produce and sell, but would have allowed room for the pictures to show off the visual impact of the amusement parks over time. The index is a bit spotty (for example, while the Kennywood Park close to me was mentioned in the text and the index, the nearby Idlewild Park which was mentioned in the text was not indexed) and no dedicated geographical index or map is included.
This omission is important for a book of this type because many people will pick it up to look for their favorite park, especially in regions rich in amusement park history like New Jersey (count how many times Springsteen references amusement park rides) and Pennsylvania which have the most currently-operating parks, many of them beautifully preserved trolley parks, so named because they were build by trolley companies to increase ridership, like Kennywood and Idlewild Parks. But even with those flaws this is a book that will delight the average reader who remembers a favorite ride, show, or midway game and treat.
Stephen Silverman's history of the amusement park back to the St. Bartholomew Fair first held in the Smithfield area of London in 1130, an annual religious festival that sprouted a carnival, market, and a variety of live shows: freaks, magicians, plays, animal acts, even public executions. William Wallace, of Braveheart fame, was hung and disemboweled to open the fair in 1305.
As you can see by this opening, Silverman takes a broad definition of constitutes an "amusement park"; other early incarnations include public gardens and picnic grounds which marked their transition to amusement by the addition of permanent rides and games to attract and distract growing numbers of paying customers. The advent of steam and then electric power added impetus to the motion of gravity in the amusement park ride, leading to the thrill of every longer and taller tracked rides. One of the intriguing nuggets Silverman scatters throughout his history is that these "roller coasters" (that name would not come until the 19th century) trace their roots back to Catherine the Great's obsession with toboggan slides in 18th century Russia. The first artificial "flying mountain" was built in 1774, and the addition of wheels to make them year-round gave root to the persistence of the word for "roller coaster" in many European languages translating literally to "Russian mountains" as lasting linguistic evidence of their history.
Silverman progresses through the beach resorts (Blackpool, Coney Island) to the trolley parks of the early 20th century, to the transition to the park built around a theme, hence "theme park", dating to Knott's Berry Farm after World War II and before Disneyland lit the fuse of expansion for the history of the park since. While he follows the history chronologically, he doesn't always connect the progression to common cultural, sociological, financial, or geographic themes, so his chapters tend to be more anecdotal than analytical. The anecdotes are very often of financial failure or physical disaster, fires, floods, and shifting consumer patterns compressing the history of many parks to a few decades or even a few short seasons. The amusement park business through history has not been for the faint of heart or the fiscally challenged. Many times an entrepreneur's love and sweat ended in bankruptcy and sale to a corporate buyer or another startup with a bright idea that crashed and burned as often as it lit a successful flame.
The book is well researched and heavily sourced (with 60 pages of bibliography and endnotes), with many illustrations. While the illustrations are nicely reproduced on heavy beautifully-printed paper stock, the standard page size leaves many of the pictures too small to see detail. A coffee table-sized book would have been more cumbersome to read and expensive to produce and sell, but would have allowed room for the pictures to show off the visual impact of the amusement parks over time. The index is a bit spotty (for example, while the Kennywood Park close to me was mentioned in the text and the index, the nearby Idlewild Park which was mentioned in the text was not indexed) and no dedicated geographical index or map is included.
This omission is important for a book of this type because many people will pick it up to look for their favorite park, especially in regions rich in amusement park history like New Jersey (count how many times Springsteen references amusement park rides) and Pennsylvania which have the most currently-operating parks, many of them beautifully preserved trolley parks, so named because they were build by trolley companies to increase ridership, like Kennywood and Idlewild Parks. But even with those flaws this is a book that will delight the average reader who remembers a favorite ride, show, or midway game and treat.
December 9, 2019
A history of amusement parks and the rides and attractions, as the title suggests. The history of amusements really does go way back in history and includes Catherine the Great, King Frederick of Denmark among other well-known names. I would not have thought amusements would go quite so far back but the author presents information in a straightforward manner with dates and names where possible. The author presents information as close to modern day as one could get, with detailing information about Disney's Star Wars Expansion and Universal Studios' Harry Potter attractions.
I enjoyed this book. I thought it covered a lot of interesting bits that you don't typically read about in a "normal" history book. The one thing that I did not like was the perhaps overly detailed bits about property changing hands again and again before eventually going out of business or being bought out by another opportunist. This is a very thick book and I did a fair amount of skimming over such details.
I enjoyed this book. I thought it covered a lot of interesting bits that you don't typically read about in a "normal" history book. The one thing that I did not like was the perhaps overly detailed bits about property changing hands again and again before eventually going out of business or being bought out by another opportunist. This is a very thick book and I did a fair amount of skimming over such details.
September 29, 2024
Absolutely gorgeous overview of amusement parks over the centuries
This book is full of absolutely gorgeous illustrations and photographs, and is a really fun overview of amusement parks over the centuries. However, I found the many time and place jumps throughout the book a bit confusing, and felt that the author was a little too thorough in naming every figure associated with founding or running an amusement park. It made reading this a little bit of a chore, as names and places and ideas began to run together. If I had my druthers, I would have organized this into broad categories of amusement parks over time, rather than the many mini explorations of individual parks that the book was organized into. All in all, this is a book best sampled slowly, and not read through, but still a fun one for folks interested in the history of amusement parks.
This book is full of absolutely gorgeous illustrations and photographs, and is a really fun overview of amusement parks over the centuries. However, I found the many time and place jumps throughout the book a bit confusing, and felt that the author was a little too thorough in naming every figure associated with founding or running an amusement park. It made reading this a little bit of a chore, as names and places and ideas began to run together. If I had my druthers, I would have organized this into broad categories of amusement parks over time, rather than the many mini explorations of individual parks that the book was organized into. All in all, this is a book best sampled slowly, and not read through, but still a fun one for folks interested in the history of amusement parks.
May 1, 2022
This book was honestly hard to enjoy with all the inaccuracies in it. Some of them were minor, and I let them slide (mixing up people’s names, writing Herbert Schmeck’s name as “Herman”, etc), but the picture of “Leap-the-Dips”, the oldest rollercoaster in the world, on page 249 that was a picture of a different rollercoaster entirely was the last straw for me. It was a picture of the Crystal Beach Cyclone instead. Seriously, how did no one catch this before the book was published??
Even with these issues, this was still a pretty good and interesting read. Most of the information I already knew since I have a lot of knowledge about amusement parks, but if you’re looking to learn more about this kind of stuff, then this book is a good choice.
3.5 stars.
Even with these issues, this was still a pretty good and interesting read. Most of the information I already knew since I have a lot of knowledge about amusement parks, but if you’re looking to learn more about this kind of stuff, then this book is a good choice.
3.5 stars.
January 2, 2026
Incredibly long and well researched. It took me months to read it! Kindle somehow lost all of my notes and highlights about halfway through and that's very upsetting because there is so much I'm interested in revisiting. The book goes from the earliest amusement parks in medieval times through the evolution of technology and the invention of every type of ride through the birth of the amusement industry and ends with Disney and all its competitors. The author has a clear passion for the subject and must have put in a ton of work—take a look at that bibliography! Of course, I was most interested in the carousels, plus the historical New Jersey parks and the hot dog connections at Coney Island. I'd love to wait on a long line for a roller coaster with this author just to pick his brain!
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April 7, 2024DNF :-/ well researched and interesting material. did really like the pictures and basic layout but man does it need more editing-- not just in terms of creating a tighter narrative but also to tone down the constant barrage of "witticisms" and baffling turns of phrase ("her 1953 high school junior year," "the corn dog as it is recognized today first stuffed an American mouth," "Elsie Fried ran the Waffle House at San Francisco's chutes at the Beach, but syrupy sweet she was not" ??). Genuinely shocked to learn Luna Park in BA is part of a chain.
March 16, 2022
A nice glossy through amusement park history, but way to annecdotal. It lacked the historical overview, the clear demarcation of key moments and processes that led to the theme parks of today. Instead it told stories of people who had some big or small role in amusment parks one day. It focused almost entirely on the anglo-saxon world, and neglected a lot of european parks.
June 13, 2021
A very well detailed history of amusement parks. Initially, the book was slow to start as it focused on fairs but they author laid the foundation on which amusment parks exist today. Definitely, a book I will keep on my shelf and refer back to. Recommend for all amusment park enthusiasts!
May 3, 2024
I loved this book! I found several references for my drawings/paintings that will work excellently. The stories are interesting and gave me some additional drawing inspiration. The world of the circus and amusement parks has always intrigued me, and this book scratched my itch to learn more!
August 27, 2019
Some of this was interesting
August 27, 2020
This book tried to tell the story of Amusement Parks from their start 900 years ago to modern times. The book has interesting parts, but was an overly long read.
December 30, 2024
Bit America focused but still very interesting
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews