The great World's Fairs and Expositions staged around the world since the mid-nineteenth century were among the largest and most dramatic cultural events ever staged. Fair World tells the story of these extraordinary exhibitions from the Victorian period to the present day.

Introduction The Origin and Meaning of the Exposition Medium Exhibitions before Expos The Formation of the First Expositions Justifying Expositions Money, Politics and the Masses Money The British Organisational Model The French Way American Business Cold War Ways and Post-Modern Methods Politics and the Entertaining of the Masses Gender and Display: The Women’s Buildings The Myth and Reality of Profits Imperial Display Britain's Exhibitions: Industry and Empire The European Empires on Display Japan’s Imperial Ambition American Expansion Human Show cases People as Entertainment Paris and the Growth of the Practice The British Displays Evolutionism and the Peopled Displays The Villages of America Consuming in the Streets of the World Ambassadors on Site National Profile Display and National Identity Frenchness Britain and England America and the Problem of the New Paris in 1937, New York in 1939 Pastiche, Boycott, and the Post-War World Designing an Ephemeral World Modernity, Design, Expo The Great Exhibition and High Victorian Design Design and the Poor The Example from Outside Architecture and Engineering Historicism and Art Nouveau Art Deco and the Modern Movement Space Age Modern, International Modern, Post-Modern The Meaning of Art Defining and Displaying the Fine Arts Beaux-Arts and Avant Garde: the French Displays British Art and the Expositions The Growth of American Art Art from Outside: Africa and Oceania After the War Postscript Notes Index Acknowledgements Bibliography