Hotel Dreams: Luxury, Technology, and Urban Ambition in America, 1829-1929

By Molly W. Berger

Book Overview

Winner, 2012 Sally Hacker Prize, Society for the History of Technology

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. The fascinating stories behind their design, construction, and marketing reveal in rich detail how these buildings became cultural symbols that shaped the urban landscape.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801899877
• ISBN13: 9780801899874
• Release Date: April 2011
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Length: 328 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.2" x 9.0"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher