Books by Thomas H. Keels

Describes a city that was always reinventing itself, filled with people who always had a very measured view of the worth and beauty of its public architecture. This book takes the reader through an illustrated journey through three centuries of Philadelphia's architecture.

In 1916, Philadelphia department-store magnate John Wanamaker launched plans for a Sesqui-Centennial International Exposition in 1926. It would be a magnificent world''s fair to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The "Sesqui" would also transform sooty, industrial Philadelphia into a beautiful Beaux Arts city.However, when the Sesqui opened on May 31, 1926, in the remote, muddy swamps of South Philadelphia, the fair was unfinished, with a few shabbily built and mostly empty structures. Crowds stayed away in droves: fewer than five million paying customers attended, costing the city millions of dollars. Philadelphia became a national scandal—a city so corrupt that one political boss could kidnap an entire world''s fair. In his fascinating history Sesqui!, noted historian Thomas Keels situates this ill-fated celebration—a personal boondoggle by the all-powerful Congressman William S. Vare—against the transformations taking place in America during the 1920s. Keels provides a comprehensive account of the Sesqui as a meeting ground for cultural changes sweeping the country: women''s and African-American rights, anti-Semitism, eugenics, Prohibition, and technological advances.