“In an interesting and original way, Joseph Tirella has used
the storied setting of the 1964/65 World’s Fair in New York to describe the entrepreneurial
spirit, the criminal nature, the egalitarian tendencies, and inevitable
compromises that characterized a complex and important period in the history of
the city and the nation.”

“Tirella explores the contrast between the purported idealism of the 1964
World’s Fair and the conflict and compromise that surrounded the
event…The Kennedy assassination, Vietnam, rising urban crime, and
racial strife provide the backdrop for Tirella’s detailed history.”

“Tirella’s story flows with a wealth of historical content that reveals how strongly the World’s Fair reflected the times. He covers, for example, the rise of Malcolm X, Bob Dylan, and the Beatles, and how the fair highlighted new inventions, including color TVs and shiny Ford Mustangs. Walt Disney even introduced concepts there that ended up in his nascent Florida theme park, including a ride-around-the-world exhibit filled with tiny singing dolls. Yes, it was a small world, after all.”

“[Tirella] adroitly switches focus from Moses and the fair
to external events in the city, nation, and world and back again, following
several disparate threads…and never losing control of the narrative’s forward
momentum. With a huge cast of characters that includes Walt Disney, Andy
Warhol, Muhammad Ali, and the Pope, the World’s Fair provides an excellent
perspective on the 1960s in America. Top-notch popular history.”

“This book is filled with fascinating stories about global
political contests between the Soviet Union and the United States, domestic
protests against social inequality, the politics of massive resistance waged by
conservatives of both major parties, corporations playing social-engineering
games, America becoming a multicultural nation, and New York City experiencing
massive physical change. Joseph Tirella’s Tomorrow-Land takes
us back in time fifty years and documents through thorough research and
wonderful narrative how the World’s Fair fell short of its goal to promote,
‘Peace through Understanding’ but still managed to give America an accurate
vision of its future self.”

“As much a history of mid-sixties America as it is a history
of the World’s Fair in Queens, New York, Joseph Tirella’s entertaining and
impeccably researched Tomorrow-Land brings the forces and
players of that turbulent era crackling to life.”

“With Tomorrow-Land, Joseph Tirella makes a
riveting case for Queens, New York, as the origin of all that is great and
modern in today’s America. If you’ve ever wondered what Robert Moses, Andy
Warhol, and Malcolm X have in common, this book connects the dots and more.
Tirella breathes in all the tumult and cultural vertigo surrounding the 1964
World’s Fair and exhales an intoxicating swirl of pure possibility.”