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Johns Hopkins University Press, Published 2016. Paperback, 318 pp.; 23 cm; Johns Hopkins Paperback edition (first published 2011); Studies in Industry and Society series; illustrated with black-and-white photographs, engravings, plans, and facsimiles.
In very good condition. Black-and-white pictorial paper covers show mild bumping to edges and overall shelf and edge wear. Binding tight. Pages clean and unmarked. Winner of the Sally Hacker Prize from the Society for the History of Technology. [From back cover] Hotel Dreams is a deeply researched and entertaining account of how the hotel's material world of machines and marble integrated into and shaped the society it served. Molly W. Berger offers a compelling history of the American hotel and how it captured the public's imagination as it came to represent the complex, and often contentious, relationship among luxury, economic development, and the ideals of a democratic society. Berger profiles the country's most prestigious hotels, including Boston's 1829 Tremont, San Francisco's world-famous Palace, and Chicago's enormous Stevens. Contents: Introduction; The Emergence of the American First-Class Hotel, 1820s; The Tremont House, Boston, 1829; The Proliferation of Antebellum Hotels, 1830-1860; The Continental Hotel, Philadelphia, 1860; Production and Consumption in an American Palace, 1850-1875; The Palace Hotel, San Francisco, 1875; The "New" Modern Hotel, 1880-1920; The Stevens Hotel, Chicago, 1927; Conclusion; Notes; Essay on Sources; Index.