Fergus Bordewich
Centennial: The Great Fair of 1876 and the Invention of America’s Future
From the publisher
The spectacular story of the Great Centennial Exhibition of 1876, a world’s fair to mark America’s hundredth birthday—and a moment of reckoning for a nation barrelling toward the Gilded Age
“Those who were there felt that the wheel of history itself had turned before their eyes.”
Held at Fairmount Park, in Philadelphia, the extravaganza attracted 10 million Americans—nearly 20 percent of the population, among them P. T. Barnum, Frederick Douglass, and Mark Twain—and visitors from around the world, including the emperor of Brazil, Dom Pedro (who couldn’t get enough of the exhibition). On display were inventions that signaled the changing landscape of American life, from the typewriter to the telephone to Heinz Tomato Ketchup.
This celebration of America’s first century came at a moment when its future seemed more precarious than ever—as big money threatened to overwhelm the government, underpaid workers waged the first national labor strike, feminists demanded rights for women, Native tribes went to war to repel the advancing settlement in the West, and Black Americans struggled to exercise their hard-won freedom. Looming over the fair was the presidential race of 1876—a highly contested election that would determine the fate of Reconstruction and permanently shape the Republican party as we know it today.
Fergus Bordewich animates these converging crises through the lives of four protagonists—Rutherford B. Hayes, Alexander Graham Bell, railroad magnate Tom Scott, and sculptor Edmonia Lewis—revealing a country striving to live up to the promise of its founders while bracing for the tidal wave of the twentieth century.
Reviews
“Bordewich’s Centennial immerses us in the wondrous Philadelphia exposition of 1876 with all its patriotic fervor, dynamic displays of industrial might, amazing inventions (the proto-telephone), silly gadgets (the combo suitcase/bathtub), and ambitious art. Outside the fair, the intense societal battles to shape this ascendant Gilded Age America feel at times eerily familiar: electoral convulsions amidst a ‘rancorous political climate,’ an ‘odious oligarchy with its plutocratic privilege,’ and rising White Supremacy targeting Blacks and immigrants. And yet . . . the nation’s most democratic ideals are there, too, as America barrels towards the twentieth century.” —Jill Jonnes, author of Empires of Light
“In Centennial, Fergus Bordewich transports us to the dazzling spectacle of the 1876 Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, where the sights, sounds, and flavors of a rapidly industrializing nation burst vividly into life. Millions of Americans encountered marvels they had never imagined—from typewriters to telephones, Turkish cafes to Chinese delicacies—revealing a country awakening to the wider world. Yet the country was unraveling in 1876, too. Corporate vigilantes were assassinating their labor union enemies, southern white terrorists were massacring innocent Blacks, and politicians were seizing on disputed election results to fan the flames of constitutional crisis. With cinematic sweep and piercing analysis, Bordewich’s Centennial captures both America’s glittering successes and bitter failures at the tail end of the nineteenth century. The story of the Gilded Age has never been told better.” —Zaakir Tameez, Winner of the Cooley Prize and author of Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation
“As exuberant and immersive as the U. S. centennial itself, Fergus Bordewich’s bracing narrative envelops us in the optimism, patriotic fervor, overweening pride, and limitless ambition of 1876 America. With reunion and peace, the country celebrated itself with inventive abandon, sometimes forsaking its democratic roots. Fergus Bordewich brings his customary, irresistible blend of rich period detail and expert retrospective analysis to a story that should give us both pleasure and pause as we mark America250. A rich and rewarding read.” —Harold Holzer, Winner of the Lincoln Prize and author of Brought Forth on This Continent
“In 1876 the USA threw a spectacular 100th birthday party for itself—the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia—and Fergus Bordewich is our astute guide and witty companion for an immersive tour. Bursting with delicious details and deft portraits, Centennial introduces us to the industrial titans, genius tech inventors, political strivers, artists, poseurs and protestors who made the fair an international sensation. Bordewich excels in charting the political and racial turbulence just below the glossy surface, and drills deep into the layers of pride and patriotism, hope and hubris animating the whole enterprise. As the nation marks its 250th birthday in 2026, unfolding in another fraught political moment, Centennial reminds us to pay attention to how this milestone is celebrated, how our history is portrayed and our future imagined. Beyond the hoopla and fireworks will be a reflection of our national character.” —Elaine Weiss, author of Spell Freedom and The Woman’s Hour
“With this piercing history of the 1876 Centennial, Fergus Bordewich illustrates the genesis of American exceptionalism and creates a cautionary parable for the Age of Trump. Every chapter dramatizes the gaps between our leaders’ self-congratulatory claims and their flawed, corrupt performance throughout our history.” —Howell Raines, author of Silent Cavalry
Fergus Bordewich has joined us twice before for History Camp Author Discussions:
[Broadcast on June 18, 2026; recorded earlier.]
Fergus M. Bordewich is the author of nine non-fiction books: KLAN WAR: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction (October, 2023); CONGRESS AT WAR: How Republican Reformers Fought the Civil War, Defied Lincoln, Ended Slavery, and Remade America; THE FIRST CONGRESS: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government (winner of the D.B. Hardeman Prize in American History); AMERICA’S GREAT DEBATE: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and the Compromise that Preserved the Union (winner of the 2012 Los Angeles Times History Prize); WASHINGTON: The Making of the American Capital; BOUND FOR CANAAN: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America (named one of the New York Public Library’s ten best books of 2005); MY MOTHER’S GHOST: A Memoir; KILLING THE WHITE MAN’S INDIAN: Reinventing Native Americans at the End of the Twentieth Century; and CATHAY: A Journey in Search of Old China. Mr. Bordewich recently completed a book about the federal government’s struggle to defeat the Ku Klux Klan in the early 1870s. It will be published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2023.
Mr. Bordewich has been an independent writer, historian, and journalist since the early 1970s. In 2015, he served as chairman of the awards committee for the Frederick Douglass Book Prize given by the Gilder-Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, resistance, and Abolition, at Yale University. His articles have appeared in many national magazines and newspapers. His book reviews appear regularly in the Wall Street Journal. As a journalist, he reported extensively on politics, economic issues, and culture from Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. He has also worked for the United Nations and, in the 1980s, served as an advisor on modernization to the Chinese National News Agency, Xinhua. He holds degrees from the City College of New York and Columbia University.
He lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife Jean Parvin Bordewich, an advisor to philanthropies on democratic governance and a playwright.
