Amusement Park Rides

by Martin Easdown

A ride on a thrill rollercoaster is the highlight of any visit to an amusement or theme park. Today's rides are at the cutting edge of technology and engineering, but they are but the latest of a long line of rides with humble roots in Russian ice slides and wooden sleigh rides. Seaside historian Martin Easdown describes the great age of these fascinating structures, from the first mass produced rollercoaster, the Switchback Railway, through to the giant wooden coasters of the inter-war period, using historic postcards and photographs to chart their development. The fullest expression of the popularity of rollercoasters was to be found at the great British seaside and popular amusement parks, such as Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Southend Kursaal and Margate Dreamland, which were created around the rides. The author also goes beyond rollercoasters to other amusement rides, such as revolving towers, aerial rides, Ferris wheels and water chutes that were produced from the late Victorian era in all manner of fascinating forms. This book is a celebration of how rollercoaster and other amusements enthralled and thrilled and became a much-loved feature of our leisure industry.

56 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Zandt McCue · Rating 1 out of 5]

Written less like a book and more like an over informative wikipedia article with way too many examples shoved into every crevice of the screen. Almost nonsensical with the amount of information the author decided to essentially vomit into each paragraph. Stop, let us care about this and learn something.

[Heather Clitheroe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had no idea there were so many roller coaster type rides at the turn of the century. Those crazy Edwardians!

[Aaron Wong · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dry.