The Reading Warehouse

The Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, dazzled with its new rainbow-colored electric lights. It showcased an array of wonders, like daredevils attempting to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, or the Animal King putting the smallest woman in the world and also terrifying animals on display. But the thrill-seeking spectators little suspected that an assassin walked the fairgrounds, waiting for President William McKinley to arrive. In Margaret Creighton's hands, the result is a persuasive case that the fair was a microcosm of some momentous facets of the United States, good and bad, at the onset of the American Century (Howard Schneider, Wall Street Journal).