In 1964, at the turning point between two orders, New York City hosted a World’s Fair to show off the stuff of our national genius. The scene was Flushing, a three-mile stretch of natural marshlands in Queens. In the 1920s, the area had been so full of trash and vermin that F. Scott Fitzgerald described it in The Great Gatsby as “the valley of ashes.”25 But for the World’s Fair, this grim meadow was transformed into a glistening global sensation, with 140 pavilions across almost 700 acres, celebrating US history and accomplishment.
