A01=Scott A. Lukas
amusement parks
anthropology
australia
Author_Scott A. Lukas
branded stores
casinos
Category=AMG
Category=WTHT
childhood
china
coney island
disney
disneyland
entertainment
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_travel
escapism
europe
exhibition halls
fantasy
fun
history
japan
leisure
madrid
mexico
movieworld
nonfiction
pleasure gardens
recreation
shopping malls
six flags
sociology
south africa
united states
vauxhall
virtual
world fairs
Product details
- ISBN 9781861893949
- Dimensions: 208 x 156mm
- Publication Date: 01 Nov 2008
- Publisher: Reaktion Books
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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Theme parks are a uniquely interactive and enduring form of entertainment that have influenced architecture, technology and culture in surprising ways for more than a century, as Scott Lukas now reveals in his compelling book.
Theme Park takes the primitive amusements of pleasure gardens as its starting point and launches from there into a rich, in-depth investigation of the evolution of the theme park over the twentieth century. Lukas examines theme parks in countries around the world - including the United States, UK, Europe, Japan, China, South Africa and Australia - and how themed fairs and parks developed through diverse means and in a variety of settings. The book examines world-famous and lesser-known parks, including the early parks of Coney Island, a series of World Fairs and their luxurious exhibition halls, Six Flags parks and virtual theme parks today, and, of course, Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
Lukas analyses the theme park as a living entity that unexpectedly shapes people, their relationships and the world around them. Ultimately, Theme Park reveals, the wider influence of theme parks can be found in the shopping malls, branded stores and casinos that employ the techniques of amusement parks to dominate our current entertainment world.
Packed with captivating illustrations, Theme Park takes us on a historical roller-coaster ride that both reanimates the places that shaped our childhoods and anticipates the future of escapism and fantasy fun.
Scott A. Lukas is Department Chair in Anthropology and Sociology at Lake Tahoe College, California, USA. He is also the Editor of The Themed Space: Locating Culture, Nation, and Self (2007).
