Panorama

2015 marks the 100th anniversary of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE), and this fully illustrated coffee table book focuses on the groundbreaking exhibition and its fascinating participants. The book opens with a large-scale map of the exhibit, with arrows pointing to events and individual people who were there: historic figures including Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Maria Montessori, aviator Lincoln Beachey, composer John Phillips Souza, and Charlie Chaplin. Subsequent pages have blow-ups of map sections with stories about the exhibitors and their impact on early 20th-century America. The book also contains a history of the development of the fair through the eyes of the author's great-grandfather, Reuben Hale, who was responsible for its vision and realization, against long odds.