Small Wonder: Worlds in a Box

Le livre

In Small Wonder: Worlds in a Box, David Levinthal takes as his subject a remarkable series of 1950s playsets manufactured by master toymakers Louis Marx and T. Cohn. As a reflection of the obsessive play of the 1950s and the current nostalgia for such items, Levinthals tabletop photography allows the reader a birds-eye view of imaginary tableaux - Legionnaire Captain Gallant in the desert, Fort Apache and the Wild West, boy scouts camping in the woods, and travelers making a stop at a roadside Howard Johnsons. Playset vignettes are like stills from a movie of American popular cultures collective unconscious. In the books introduction, David Corey explores the history of playsets and their effect on American children in the 1950s.