Throughout the twentieth century, African Americans challenged segregation at amusement parks, swimming pools, and skating rinks not only in pursuit of pleasure but as part of a wider struggle for racial equality. Well before the Montgomery bus boycott, mothers led their children into segregated amusement parks, teenagers congregated at forbidden swimming pools, and church groups picnicked at white-only parks. But too often white mobs attacked those who dared to transgress racial norms. In Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters, Victoria W. Wolcott tells the story of this battle for access to leisure space in cities all over the United States. Contradicting the nostalgic image of urban leisure venues as democratic spaces, Wolcott reveals that racial segregation was crucial to their appeal. Parks, pools, and playgrounds offered city dwellers room to exercise, relax, and escape urban cares. These gathering spots also gave young people the opportunity to mingle, flirt, and dance. As cities grew more diverse, these social forms of fun prompted white insistence on racially exclusive recreation. Wolcott shows how black activists and ordinary people fought such infringements on their right to access public leisure. In the face of violence and intimidation, they swam at white-only beaches, boycotted discriminatory roller rinks, and picketed Jim Crow amusement parks. When African Americans demanded inclusive public recreational facilities, white consumers abandoned those places. Many parks closed or privatized within a decade of desegregation. Wolcott's book tracks the decline of the urban amusement park and the simultaneous rise of the suburban theme park, reframing these shifts within the civil rights context. Filled with detailed accounts and powerful insights, Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters brings to light overlooked aspects of conflicts over public accommodations. This eloquent history demonstrates the significance of leisure in American race relations.

This volume can rightfully be called "a film school in a single book." Investigating and analyzing the elements and concepts of motion picture creation, this book looks closely at 25 films that represent a wide range of styles and subjects. Although most motion picture viewers have seen numerous movies in their lifetime, few in the general public have a firm and deep understanding of how motion pictures are created, or a grasp of the intricacies of cinematic storytelling and content. By presenting 25 films, American and international, Hollywood and independent, this book educates and enlightens readers about the details of the motion picture creation process. Some readers will have viewed certain films in the volume, but many will be introduced to major cinematic works within the canon of great and essential films for the very first time. Topics explored include animation, period films, editing, directorial style, and non-linear cinematic structure. Readers will learn about the origin of the jump cut in Breathless, time and space in Hiroshima Mon Amour, and the editing in Orson Welles's essay film F is for Fake. The Art and Craft of Motion Pictures: 25 Movies to Make You Film Literate will educate the novice and avid moviegoer alike about the inner workings of this dynamic, popular, and culturally significant art form.

In 1984 America celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of the first successful roller coaster device: La Marcus A. Thompson’s switchback railway, erected at Coney Island. Robert Cartmell examines every phase of roller coaster history, from the use of the roller coaster by Albert Einstein to demonstrate his theory of physics, to John Allen’s use of psychology in designing one.