"Hailed by critics from coast to coast and by readers of all ages, this resonant novel is one of E.L. Doctorow's greatest works of fiction. It is 1939, and even as the rumbles of progress are being felt worldwide, New York City clings to remnants of the past, with horse-drawn wagons, street peddlers, and hurdy-gurdy men still toiling in its streets. For nine-year-old Edgar Altschuler, life is stoopball and radio serials, idolizing Joe DiMaggio, and enduring the conflicts between his realist mother and his dreamer of a father. The forthcoming World's Fair beckons, an amazing vision of American automation, inventiveness, and prosperity -- an Edgar Altschuler responds. A marvelous work from a master storyteller, World's Fair is a book about a boy who must surrender his innocence to come of age, and a generation that must survive great hardship to reach its future."--P. [4] of cover