LEADER 03711oam 2200601K 450 001 9910972289203321 005 20240509022713.0 010 $a0-262-34478-5 035 $a(CKB)4100000007877948 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC5743826 035 $a(StDuBDS)EDZ0002090587 035 $a(OCoLC)1091191202 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse66538 035 $a(CaBNVSL)mat08564051 035 $a(IDAMS)0b000064888fdb84 035 $a(IEEE)8564051 035 $a(OCoLC-P)1091191202 035 $a(MaCbMITP)10552 035 $a(PPN)255270127 035 $a(EXLCZ)994100000007877948 100 $a20190402d2018 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcnu|||||||| 181 $ctxt$2rdacontent 182 $cc$2rdamedia 183 $acr$2rdacarrier 200 10$aAmerican illuminations $eurban lighting, 1800-1920 /$fDavid E. Nye 205 $a1st ed. 210 1$aCambridge, Massachusetts :$cThe MIT Press,$d[2018] 215 $a1 online resource (x, 280 pages) $cillustrations 225 1 $aMIT Press scholarship online 300 $aPreviously issued in print: 2018. 311 08$a0-262-03741-6 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $aIlluminations -- Energy transitions -- The United States and Europe -- Moonlight towers -- Spectacles and expositions -- Commercial landscape -- City beautiful -- Light as a political spectacle -- Mutliple blindings. 330 $aHow Americans adapted European royal illuminations for patriotic celebrations, spectacular expositions, and intensely bright commercial lighting to create the world's most dazzling and glamorous cities.Illuminated ftes and civic celebrations began in Renaissance Italy and spread through the courts of Europe. Their fireworks, torches, lamps, and special effects glorified the monarch, marked the birth of a prince, or celebrated military victory. Nineteenth-century Americans rejected such monarchial pomp and adapted spectacular lighting to their democratic, commercial culture. InAmerican Illuminations,David Nye explains how they experimented with gas and electric light to create illuminated cityscapes far brighter and more dynamic than those of Europe, and how these illuminations became symbols of modernity and the conquest of nature.Americans used gaslight and electricity in parades, expositions, advertising, elections, and political spectacles. In the 1880s, cities erected powerful arc lights on towers to create artificial moonlight. By the 1890s they adopted more intensive, commercial lighting that defined distinct zones of light and glamorized the city's White Ways, skyscrapers, bridges, department stores, theaters, and dance halls. Poor and blighted areas disappeared into the shadows. American illuminations also became integral parts of national political campaigns, presidential inaugurations, and victory celebrations after the Spanish-American War and World War I. 410 0$aMIT Press scholarship online. 606 $aStreet lighting$xSocial aspects$zUnited States$xHistory$y19th century 606 $aStreet lighting$xSocial aspects$zUnited States$xHistory$y20th century 606 $aCity and town life$zUnited States$xHistory$y19th century 606 $aCity and town life$zUnited States$xHistory$y20th century 615 0$aStreet lighting$xSocial aspects$xHistory 615 0$aStreet lighting$xSocial aspects$xHistory 615 0$aCity and town life$xHistory 615 0$aCity and town life$xHistory 676 $a388.3/12 700 $aNye$b David E.$f1946-$0140346 801 0$bOCoLC-P 801 1$bOCoLC-P 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910972289203321 996 $aAmerican illuminations$94382246 997 $aUNINA