The world s fair of 1915 celebrated both the completion of the Panama Canal and the rebuilding of San Francisco following the devastating 1906 earthquake and fire. The exposition spotlighted the canal and the city as gateways to the Pacific, where the American empire could now expand after its victory in the Spanish-American War. "Empire on Display "is the first book to examine the Panama-Pacific International Exposition through the lenses of art history and cultural studies, focusing on the event s expansionist and masculinist symbolism.

The exposition displayed evidence visual,...