The 1939 World's Fair in New York was the first to talk about the world of the future. The immediate future was dominated by the war, but for that one summer some people could still dream happily.
This is a small sample of the contents of the guide. It isn't meant to be complete, or especially instructive.
Except for this, modernist art always needs an explanation. The Trylon and Perisphere were at the center of the fair. The Trylon was 700 feet tall. It was connected to the perisphere by the longest escalator in the world. The sphere was 180 feet in diameter and housed a diorama called "Democracity" depicting a utopian city-of-the-future. You viewed it from above on a moving sidewalk, under movies playing on the sides of the sphere.
One of the designers would also work on the United Nations headquarters, Rockefeller Center and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
I gave my copy of this book to Henry. He told me about his memories of the fair. Hear them yourself.