Jason Wood is Director of Heritage Consultancy Services, Lancaster, UK, and former Professor of Cultural Heritage at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK.

"I have no hesitation in proclaiming that this is the finest collection of essays ever produced on this subject, offering a worldwide perspective on the history of, and issues concerning, amusement parks." Allan Brodie, Journal of Tourism History (2020)

• Introduction 1 Fair grounds for debate: Celebrating the heritage of amusement parks JASON WOODPART I Development of the amusement park in Britain 2 Mechanical pleasures: The appeal of British amusement parks, 1900–1914 JOSEPHINE KANE 3 From Battersea to Alton Towers: In search of the Great British theme park IAN TROWELLPART II International case histories 4 The heritage of public space: Bondi Beach, Luna Park and the politics of amusement in Sydney CAROLINE FORD 5 The Turkish amusement park: Modernity, identity and cultural change in the early republic JASON WOOD AND B. NILGÜN ÖZ6 Knott’s Berry Farm: The improbable amusement park in the shadow of Disneyland GARY CROSS 7 The dilemma of the crowd: Atlantic City’s Steel Pier, George Hamid, and leisure and urban space in post-civil rights America BRYANT SIMON 8 The Parque de Atracciones de Vizcaya, Artxanda, Bilbao: Provincial identity, paternalistic optimism and economic collapse, 1972–1990 JOHN K. WALTONPART III Cultural significance, revival and heritage protection 9 Last night of the fair: Heritage, resort identity and the closure of Southport’s Pleasureland ANYA CHAPMAN AND DUNCAN LIGHT10 Delivering the dream: Saving Britain’s amusement park heritage and the reawakening of Margate’s Dreamland NICK LAISTER11 Designing the past: Implications of a new vision for Dreamland ELEANOR MCGRATH12 The designation of amusement parks and fairground rides in England ALLAN BRODIE AND ROGER BOWDLER