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Amusement Parks

New and Noteworthy

Night view of Luna Park, Coney IslandElectric Dreamland: Amusement Parks, Movies, and American Modernity
Lauren Rabinovitz
2012

 

 

 

A view of an 18th century landscapeThe Pleasure Garden: From Vauxhall to Coney Island
Jonathan Conlin
2013

 

 

 

A white man confronts a black man with a carousel horse in betweenRace, Riots, and Roller Coasters
Victoria W. Wolcott
2012
Available online and in paper 

 

 

 

Teal houses in front of pink castles on a teal fieldA Cultural History of the Disneyland Theme Parks: Middle Class Kingdoms
Sabrina Mittermeier
2020

 

 

LA+
Issue on Pleasure
Fall 2015

“Enjoyment in the Night: Discovering Leisure in Philadelphia’s Eighteenth-century Rural Pleasure Gardens”
Anne Beamish
Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes, Vol 35 No. 3 2015

 

Not Quite So New, But Quite Topical

Snow White's castle on a yellow fieldDesigning Disney’s Theme Parks: The Architecture of Reassurance
Karal Ann Marling
1997

 

 

park landscapesTheme Park Landscapes: Antecedents and Variations
Terence Young and Robert B. Riley
2002 

 

 

 

Fish eye view of park, city skyline, and skyThe Invention of the Park: Recreational Landscapes from the Garden of Eden to Disney’s Magic Kingdom 
Karen R. Jones and John Wills
2005

 

 

 

A Coney Island scale crowd below a wooden coasterThe Playful Crowd: Pleasure Places in the Twentieth Century
Gary S. Cross and John K. Walton
2005

 

 

Looping roller coasters and other ridesLandscape of Recreation II: Amusement Parks
Francisco Asensio Cerver and Antonia Dueñas
1994

 

 

 

A crowd divider that turns into a benchTotal Landscape, Theme Parks, Public Space
Miodrag Mitrašinović
2006

 

 

Title on the Las Vegas signDream Worlds: Architecture and Entertainment
Oliver Herwig
2006

 

 

Epcot sphere, castle, and a building with Mickey's hat from FantasiaBuilding a Dream: The Art of Disney Architecture
Beth Dunlop
1996

 

 

A carousel horse below and people in a pool aboveTheme Park
Scott A. Lukas
2008

 

 

 

people on a stair or escalatorVariations on a Theme Park: The New American City and the End of Public Space 
Michael Sorkin
1992

 

 

 

A streamlined moderne building on a blue fieldForm Follows Fun: Modernism and Modernity in British Pleasure Architecture 1925-1940 
Bruce Peter
2007

 

 

book coverThe Theming of America: Dreams, Media Fantasies, and Themed Environments
Mark Gottdiener
2001

 

 

 

Older Titles for a Deep Dive

The loop of a metal coaster Theme and Amusement Parks
Francisco Asensio Cerver
1997

 

 

People at the seaside with a modernist hotel behindEncyclopedia of Recreation and Leisure in America 
Gary S. Cross
2004

 

 

Fairground Attractions: A Genealogy of the Pleasure GroundA Farris Wheel
Deborah Philips
2012

 

 

 

Children at the beachWorking at Play a History of Vacations in the United States
Cindy Sondik Aron
1999
Available online or in paper

 

 

Greyscale image of the downslope of a wooden coaster The Incredible Scream Machine: A History of the Roller Coaster
Robert Cartmell
1987

 

 

“Amusement Parks as Landscapes of Popular Culture: An Analysis of Willow Grove Park and the Wildwoods”
JM Doherty
1999

Loose photos of a roller coaster and other ridesThe Global Theme Park Industry
Anton Clavé
2007

 

 

 

Fountains in front of a fantasy building and a roller coasterAmusement Parks of Pennsylvania
Jim Futrell
2002

 

 

 

a carousel Fairground Architecture 
David Braithwaite
1968

 

 

A wide D with Cinderella's Castle insideThe Story of Walt Disney World
Walt Disney Productions
1971

 

 

Title shaped like roller coaster hillsThe American Amusement Park Industry: A History of Technology and Thrills 
Judith Adams-Volpe
1991

 

 

 

Fantasy trees or lights with rectilinear buildingsDes Mondes Inventés: Les Parcs à Thème
Anne-Marie Eyssartel
1992

 

 

 

Ferris Wheel lit up at nightThe Great American Amusement Parks: A Pictorial History
Gary Kyriazi
1976

 

 

Walt Disney’s DisneylandSnow White's Castle in Disneyland
Marty Sklar
1965

 

 

a dirt road with the image tinted blueThe Culture of Nature: North American Landscape from Disney to the Exxon Valdez 
Alexander Wilson
1991

 

Photo Books

Crowds in front of a roller coaster

Western Pennsylvania’s Lost Amusement Parks
Rachel E. Smith
2020

 

 

 

Luna: Pittsburgh’s Original Lost KennywoodRed and gold entry pavilion with classical details and a moon against a blue background
Brian Butko
2017

 

 

 

Scenes of park buildings in a landscapeIdlewild: History and Memories of Pennsylvania’s Oldest Amusement Park
Jennifer Sopko
2018

 

People watching small race cars Hersheypark
Pamela Cassidy Whitenack
2006

 

 

 

Arc with stairs going up to itKennywood
David P. Hahner
2004

 

 

 

Dutch Wonderlandgrouping of pictures, a castle, a train, a roller coaster
Austen Dennison
2015

 

 

 

Children in a roller coaster carDorney Park
Wally Ely with Bob Ott
2003

 

 

 

Sign made out of clown hitting a drum for Kiddie LandIdlewild
Jeffrey S. Croushore
2004

 

 

 

Looping rollercoaster lightly printed behind the titleHersheypark: The Sweetness of Success  
Charles J. Jacques
1997