The boy from Adrian (1893-1912) -- Chicago/Detroit (1913-1916) -- Hollywood (1916-1917) -- Manhattan (1917-1919) -- From Dante to Gershwin (1919-1922) -- Prelude to a miracle (1923-1924) -- Hollywood/Paris (1925) -- Colossal in scale, appalling in complexity (1926-1935) -- Goods into roses (1920s) -- Skyscrapers/Streamlining (1931-1933) -- The democratization of design (1930s) -- What geniuses worry about (1930s) -- Too good to succeed: the Chrysler Airflow (1933-1937) -- Fickle mistress (1929-1937) -- Birth of a classic, death of a beauty (January 1938) -- Too goddamned Waldorf Astoria: the exhibit that nearly wasn't (1936-1940) -- Crystal Lassies, or, The future will be topless (1938-1940) -- Elephants in tutus (1940-1942) -- "...that stinking dirty, filthy piece about me in the New Yorker" (1941) -- All the wonders that would be (1940-1945) -- Quantity trumps quality (1945-1950) -- Prodigal daughter (1950s) -- Edith (1950-1958) -- Epilogue
Summary:
"Norman Bel Geddes designed everything from Broadway sets to Chrysler cars; from the first all-weather stadium to Futurama, the prescient 1939 World's Fair exhibit that would go down as the most popular of all time. In The Man Who Designed the Future, B. Alexandra Szerlip tells the astonishing story of a 9th grade dropout with a Midwestern twang who presided over a seismic shift in American culture--a moment in which entertainment became immersive, people became consumers, and the country came to look the way it does today"-- Provided by publisher.
