Tells the story of the building of the American Museum of Natural
History and Hayden Planetarium, a story of history, politics,
science, and exploration, including the roles of American
presidents, New York power brokers, museum presidents, planetarium
directors, polar and African explorers, and German rocket
scientists. The American Museum of Natural History is one of New
York City's most beloved institutions, and one of the largest, most
celebrated museums in the world. Since 1869, generations of New
Yorkers and tourists of all ages have been educated and entertained
here. Located across from Central Park, the sprawling structure,
spanning four city blocks, is a fascinating conglomeration of many
buildings of diverse architectural styles built over a period of
150 years. The first book to tell the history of the museum from
the point of view of these buildings, including the planned Gilder
Center, The American Museum of Natural History and How It Got That
Way contextualizes them within New York and American history and
the history of science. Part II, "The Heavens in the Attic," is the
first detailed history of the Hayden Planetarium, from the museum's
earliest astronomy exhibits, to Clyde Fisher and the original
planetarium, to Neil deGrasse Tyson and the Rose Center for Earth
and Space, and it features a photographic tour through the original
Hayden Planetarium. Author Colin Davey spent much of his childhood
literally and figuratively lost in the museum's labyrinthine
hallways. The museum grew in fits and starts according to the
vicissitudes of backroom deals, personal agendas, two world wars,
the Great Depression, and the Cold War. Chronicling its evolution
from the selection of a desolate, rocky, hilly, swampy site, known
as Manhattan Square to the present day the book includes some of
the most important and colorful characters in the city's history,
including the notoriously corrupt and powerful "Boss" Tweed,
"Father of New York City" Andrew Haswell Green, and
twentieth-century powerbroker and master builder Robert Moses;
museum presidents Morris K. Jesup, Henry Fairfield Osborn, and
Ellen Futter; and American presidents, polar and African explorers,
dinosaur hunters, and German rocket scientists. Richly illustrated
with period photos, The American Museum of Natural History and How
It Got That Way is based on deep archival research and interviews.
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