The Gilded Age's Great Masquerade The Centennial Exhibition of 1876 was a spectacle that defied description, a perfect blend of material progress and national glory.
Beneath its gleaming façade lay a nation in turmoil, torn between the ideals of its founding and the harsh realities of industrialization. Historian Fergus M.
Bordewich's book, Centennial: The Great Fair of 1876 and the Invention of America's Future, offers a nuanced exploration of this pivotal moment in American history.