The Kid of Coney Island: The Rise of American Amusement Parks 

This lecture was part of the 2010 Whitehall Lecture Series on Popular Entertainment During the Gilded Age. During the late 19th century, when men were supposed to be men at home, at work and in war, visionary entrepreneur Fred Thompson developed a playground to “let ‘em be kids.” Amid shifting conceptions of gender, race, and class, Thompson built Luna Park in 1903 and transformed Coney Island from a tawdry “Sodom by the Sea” into a respectable playground. His ambition revolutionized the way Americans view amusement parks.