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Staged Wrecks: The Railroad Crash Between Infrastructural Lesson and Amusement

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Infrastructuring Publics

Part of the book series: Medien der Kooperation ((MEKOO))

Abstract

To explore infrastructures and publics from a historical perspective, in this paper I will focus on the entangled development of transport infrastructures in the nineteenth century on the one hand and the rise of amusement cultures on the other. More specifically, I will examine a phenomenon that became popular at US State Fairs at the end of the century, namely staged railroad crashes with two steam locomotives.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Johannes-Gutenberg-University Mainz, Film Studies, Theatre Studies & Cultural Anthropology, Mainz, Germany

    Gabriele Schabacher

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  1. Gabriele Schabacher
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Correspondence to Gabriele Schabacher .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Siegen, Germany

    Matthias Korn

  2. Siegen, Germany

    Wolfgang Reißmann

  3. Siegen, Germany

    Tobias Röhl

  4. Köln, Germany

    David Sittler

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Schabacher, G. (2019). Staged Wrecks: The Railroad Crash Between Infrastructural Lesson and Amusement. In: Korn, M., Reißmann, W., Röhl, T., Sittler, D. (eds) Infrastructuring Publics. Medien der Kooperation. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-20725-0_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-20725-0_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer VS, Wiesbaden

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-658-20724-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-658-20725-0

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