From "Sodoms by the sea" at Coney Island and Blackpool to carefully orchestrated corporate entertainment, The Playful Crowd compares the pursuit of pleasure on both sides of the Atlantic. The authors capture the gritty vulgarity and charms of Coney Island and Blackpool and examine how Disneyland and Beamish, a heritage park that celebrates Britain's industrial and social history, evoke certain types of nostalgia.
Preface Introduction 1. Making the Popular Resort: Coney Island and Blackpool About 1900 2. Industrial Saturnalia and the Playful Crowd 3. The Crowd and its Critics 4. Decline and Reinvention: Coney Island and Blackpool 5. The Disney Challenge 6. "Enrichment through Enjoyment": The Beamish Museum in a Theme Park Age 7. The Crowd Transformed? Notes Index
Gary S. Cross is professor of history at Pennsylvania State University. He is the author of several titles, including An All-Consuming Century: Why Commercialism Won in Modern America (Columbia, 2000).John K. Walton is professor of social history at the University of Central Lancashire. His most recent book is The British Seaside: Holidays and Resorts in the Twentieth Century. Gary Cross is professor of history at Penn State and the author of An All-Consuming Century (CUP, 2000); Time and Money: The Making of Consumerist Modernity (Routledge, 1993; A Quest for Time: The Reduction of Work in Britain and France, 1840-1940 (University of California Press, 1989) and A Social History of Leisure since 1600 (Venture, 1990) Gary Cross is professor of history at Penn State and the author of An All-Consuming Century (CUP, 2000); Time and Money: The Making of Consumerist Modernity (Routledge, 1993; A Quest for Time: The Reduction of Work in Britain and France, 1840-1940 (University of California Press, 1989) and A Social History of Leisure since 1600 (Venture, 1990)
"This book, which is vividly and engagingly written, makes a major contribution to our knowledge and understanding of a cultural phenomenon." -- The Times Higher Education Supplement "...A fascinating account of the changing nature of the pleasure-seeking crowd in the US and Britain during the twentieth century." -- Brad Beaven, University of Portsmouth, Institute of Historical Research (UK) "Engaging... fascinating... excellent... a model of collaborative scholarship, this book contributes much to the history of twentieth-century amusements." -- Susan Currell, The American Historical Review " The Playful Crowd succeeds admirably, both as comparative history and as a study of popular leisure." -- Scott C. Martin, Journal of Social History "A valuable book for students studying pleasure, leisure, and tourism." -- Auvo Kostiainen, Annals of Tourism Research
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