Knute Berger writes a column called “Mossback” for Crosscut.com, a Seattle-area news website. He also writes a monthly column for Seattle magazine. He is the author of Pugetopolis and Space Needle, Spirit of Seattle. A version of this article first appeared in Crosscut.com in May of 2015 and is reprinted with permission.

Lee Anderson is an independent writer and researcher. He is the author of Congress and the Classroom (2007) and the forthcoming novel, The Prince of Peace City.

Alfred Heller began attending world’s fairs in 1939 (San Francisco). The Milan expo was his 20th. He founded and edited the predecessor of this website, the print quarterly “World’s Fair.” Author of World’s Fairs and the End of Progress (2003), he has written extensively about these great festivals.