The electrifying fall of Rainbow City / Creighton, Margaret S.

"[Relates the story of] the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York ... [which] went tragically, spectacularly awry ... In the early autumn of 1901, an assassin stalked the fairgrounds, waiting for President William McKinley ... A female daredevil captivated crowds by trying to ride a barrel over Niagara Falls. Apache leader Geronimo startled visitors with a controversial performance. And a showman called the Animal King, the self-proclaimed star of the Midway, announced that one of his acts, the smallest woman in the world and the fair's 'mascot,' had been kidnapped. Then he staged the attempted electrocution of an elephant"--Provided by publisher.

"The 1901 Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, meant to herald the twentieth century, went tragically, spectacularly, awry. In 1901, Buffalo, New York, the eighth biggest city in America, wanted to launch the new century with the Pan American Exposition. It would showcase the Western hemisphere and bring millions of people to western New York. With Niagara Falls as a drawing card and with stunning colors and electric lights, promoters believed it would be bigger, better, and--literally--more brilliant than Chicago's White City of 1893. Weaving together narratives of both notorious and forgotten figures, Margaret Creighton unveils the fair's big tragedy and its lesser-known scandals. From a deranged laborer who stalked and shot President William McKinley to a sixty-year-old woman who rode a barrel over Niagara Falls, to two astonishing acts--a little person and an elephant--who turned the tables on their duplicitous manager, Creighton reveals the myriad power struggles that would personify modern America. The Buffalo fair announced the new century, but in ways nobody expected"--Provided by publisher.