During the late nineteenth century, America was undergoing a cultural change in society. An island with Amusement Parks and vast beaches was underway in development to change the face of America in ways no one could have imagined at the time. The island was referred to as Coney Island. Coney Island Amusement Parks was built in a span of 30 years that would provide the American people a place to relax and enjoy time together with their friends and family. As a whole, Coney Island at the turn of the century, offered the ways of the future in distinctive ways; through technological advances of the era. Around 1900, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company created steam railways that connected Manhattan and Brooklyn, thus making Coney Island much more accessible to people living the city (Source 2). Coney Island was a symbol of America in the early twentieth century, where all of America’s values and traditions were defined and brought into one place. In a sense, Coney Island took Americans from the Victorian age, to a more modern and futuristic sense of what America could potentially become. Changing economic and social conditions helped to create the basis of new mass culture that was carried on into the new century (Source 1)
As the industrialization brought new technology and ideas, the ways of American life changed almost instantly. Many inventions were being tested to see how well they would do throughout Coney Island. Many people started to take notice of these change and started talking more and more about it. Traditional concepts were now being challenged and overshadowed as to what was to be created in Coney Island. “Now machines of industry are becoming instruments of play”, recalled Fred Thompson, crea...
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... about leisure and entertainment at the same time.
All in all, Coney Island brought different perspectives on the changing culture in America at the turn of the century. Now men and women were able express themselves in ways they never could have before, technological advances were well on their way into the modern era, and the morals people had changed drastically compared to the Victorian era. Coney island forever changed America, and created new views on leisure and entertainment. Today leisure and entertainment are a part of cultural society everywhere.
Works Cited
1. Kasson, F. John. “Amusing the Million: Coney Island at the Turn of the Century” New York: Hill and Wang, 1978
2. Berman, John S. Coney Island. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 2003
3. McCullough, David. “American Experience: Coney Island.” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/coney/inc
This was the first-time people had seen factories like this is America. Many famous, affluent, and powerful men visited these textile mills only long enough to admire the engineering advancements Lowell had made, and completely missed the inhumane treatment of the workers inside.
essence of New York and all its nuances in the form of terse observations. Whether
During the 1920’s, Atlantic City was famous for gambling and drinking. People all over would visit for entertainment and to get rich. After world war two crime and corruption took over the streets causing the city to enter an economic decline. Also following the war, cars became more available which led to the decrease of time spent at the city, people no longer had to wait for a train, they can now visit for a little and leave whenever. Less people staying at the hotels for longer, took away more of the cities money. In 1972, “ The New Yorker” published an article called the The Search for Marvin Garden’s by John McPhee who was smart and talented monopoly player. In the article, McPhee persuades Americans to be weary of what trying to become rich in order to be happy can produce and instead search for happiness in
10. The technology used in Coney Island's rides allowed the park managers to control crowds while simultaneously giving people the illusion of total autonomy as they navigated the park. This is a parallel to the cultural changes going on at the time, brought about in part by Coney Island. The new "mass culture" gave people a newly found sense of liberation from older, more restrictive values even though part of the reason why people were adopting this new culture was societal pressure.
The Incorporation of America sets a high standard for itself, one in which it doesn’t necessarily meet; however, the work is still expansive and masterful at describing the arguments of the Gilded Age.... ... middle of paper ... ... “Machines employed in production under the present system are “absolutely injurious,” rendering the workman more dependent; depriving him of his skill and of opportunities to acquire it; lessening his control over his own condition and the hope of improving it; cramping his mind, and in many cases distorting and enervating his body.”
Douglas, Ann. Terrible Honesty: Mongrel Manhattan in the 1920s. New York: First Noonday Press, 1995. Print.
Print. The. Traxel, David. The. 1898: The Birth of the American Century. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1998.
*Westchester County has nearly one million residents living throughout the 450 square miles and its population is larger than five states and 77 countries (Westchester gov.com, 2014). This region has a lot to offer historical; Westchester County played a key role in the American Revolution, cultural; arts, music, theater, museums, gardens, literary arts, cultural centers, and so on, geography; its locale is right along the Long Island Sound on the southeast and the Hudson River on the west, rolling hills, retaining rural characters, while adopting the urban and suburban lifestyles and New York City in close proximity, and population trends; the county’s population grew 3% between the 2000 and 2010 Census (Arts Westchester, n.d., Westchester
In The Artificial River, Carol Sheriff describes how when the digging of the Erie Canal began on July 4, 1817, no one would have been able to predict that the canal would even be considered a paradox of progress. One of the major contradictions of progress was whether or not triumphing art over nature was even considered progress. People were not sure during the nineteenth century if changing the environment for industrialization was necessarily a good thing. Another contradiction to progress that resulted from the Erie Canal was when people started holding the state government responsible for all their financial misfortunes. An additional contradiction to progress that the Erie Canal displayed was how many of its workers were either children, or men that lived lives that were intemperate and disrespectful to women. As American history students look back at the Erie Canal today, they generally only imagine how the canal was extraordinary for the residents of New York, but not all the issues and problems it also produced.
In his book, Rockdale, Anthony F.C. Wallace explores the relationship between the products of technology and social organization. Wallace focuses his study on the fairly small village of Rockdale, an environment that is intended to reflect a significant part of the American industrial experience of the nineteenth century.
Industrial Revolution, which took place over much of the nineteenth century, had many advantages. It provided people with tools for a better life; people were no longer dependent on the land for all of their goods. The Industrial Revolution made it possible for people to control nature more than they ever had before. However, now people were dependent on the new machines of the Industrial Age (1). The Revolution brought with it radical changes in the textile and engine worlds; it was a time of reason and innovations. Although it was a time of progress, there were drawbacks to the headway made in the Industrial Revolution. Granted, it provided solutions to the problems of a world without industry. However, it also created problems with its mechanized inventions that provided new ways of killing. Ironically, there was much public faith in these innovations; however, these were the same inventions that killed so many and contributed to a massive loss of faith. These new inventions made their debut in the first world war (2) ).
Jacobs, Jane. "12-13." The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Random House, 1961. N. pag. Print.
New York: Vintage Books, 1991. Print.
When you associate anything with New York City it is usually the extraordinary buildings that pierce the sky or the congested sidewalks with people desperate to shop in the famous stores in which celebrities dwell. Even with my short visit there I found myself lost within the Big Apple. The voices of the never-ending attractions call out and envelop you in their awe. The streets are filled with an atmosphere that is like a young child on a shopping spree in a candy store. Although your feet swelter from the continuous walking, you find yourself pressing on with the yearning to discover the 'New York Experience'.