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Action Park: Fast Times, Wild Rides, and the Untold Story of America's Most...
by Mulvihill, Andy; Rossen, Jake | PB | Good
US $7.49
ApproximatelyS$ 9.60
Condition:
“Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, ”... Read moreabout condition
Good
A book that has been read but is in good condition. Very minimal damage to the cover including scuff marks, but no holes or tears. The dust jacket for hard covers may not be included. Binding has minimal wear. The majority of pages are undamaged with minimal creasing or tearing, minimal pencil underlining of text, no highlighting of text, no writing in margins. No missing pages.
Last one2 sold
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Free Economy Shipping.
Located in: Aurora, Illinois, United States
Delivery:
Estimated between Wed, 17 Sep and Tue, 23 Sep to 94104
Returns:
30 days return. Seller pays for return shipping.
Coverage:
Read item description or contact seller for details. See all detailsSee all details on coverage
(Not eligible for eBay purchase protection programmes)
Seller assumes all responsibility for this listing.
eBay item number:144584797671
Item specifics
- Condition
- Good
- Seller Notes
- Binding
- Paperback
- Weight
- 0 lbs
- Product Group
- Book
- IsTextBook
- No
- ISBN
- 9780143134510
About this product
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Penguin Publishing Group
ISBN-10
0143134515
ISBN-13
9780143134510
eBay Product ID (ePID)
19038252080
Product Key Features
Book Title
Action Park : Fast Times, Wild Rides, and the Untold Story of America's Most Dangerous Amusement Park
Number of Pages
352 Pages
Language
English
Publication Year
2020
Topic
Personal Memoirs, General, Popular Culture, United States / State & Local / MidWest (IA, Il, in, Ks, Mi, MN, Mo, Nd, Ne, Oh, Sd, Wi)
Illustrator
Yes
Genre
Sports & Recreation, Social Science, Biography & Autobiography, History
Format
Trade Paperback
Dimensions
Item Height
0.8 in
Item Weight
9.5 Oz
Item Length
7.9 in
Item Width
5.3 in
Additional Product Features
Intended Audience
Trade
LCCN
2020-011878
Reviews
"Action Park , like Jurassic Park , brims with mortal danger, except Action Park was somehow real. If you ever worked a summer job with guys named Smoke, Puff and Ring-Ding, you'll instantly recognize the time and place. Every page is so redolent of beer, fear, lust and chlorine that it's practically scratch-and-sniff." --Steve Rushin, Sting-Ray Afternoons and Nights in White Castle, "I went to Action Park exactly once in the 1990s. I saw people with open wounds. I was asked if I was an expert swimmer by a bored 16 year old before entering a pitch dark water pipe that ejected me feet over ice cold water. I bruised my ribs on the turn of one water slide and spent the next day in exquisite pain. I never wanted to go back again. Until I read this book. Now I miss it. Why do we as a species crave danger and punishment? You won't find the answer here, but you will find story after unbelievable story of a place that should have never existed." --John Hodgman, author of Vacationland and Medallion Status "Action Park , like Jurassic Park , brims with mortal danger, except Action Park was somehow real. If you ever worked a summer job with guys named Smoke, Puff and Ring-Ding, you'll instantly recognize the time and place. Every page is so redolent of beer, fear, lust and chlorine that it's practically scratch-and-sniff." --Steve Rushin, author of Sting-Ray Afternoons and Nights in White Castle "Every traditional amusement park exhales a whiff of the sinister, but an afternoon at Action Park was more akin to visiting the Western Front on a busy day than suffering some mild jostling in a bumper car or rattling through the Laff in the Dark. The son of Gene Mulvihill, founder of Action Park's unique--and uniquely dangerous--concoction of violent diversions reveals its almost unbelievable and frequently hilarious history with high-hearted gusto and impressive frankness. Here was an operation founded on a strange application of the old principle that the customer is always right: if you got hurt--and hundreds did--it was your own fault. After all, one had only to look at the rides to see that most of them offered the likelihood of a compound fracture or worse. Fueling Mulvihill's implausible success was his libertarian conviction that people are responsible for their own choices, however reckless. And there is a larger story here: a glimpse--at once chilling, fascinating, and oddly touching--of American entrepreneurial genius at its most audacious." --Richard Snow, author of Disney's Land "Reading Andy Mulvihill's chronicle of fast times at his father Gene's amusement park resembles an actual visit: fun and hilarity one second, shock and horror the next...Alternately wistful and clear-eyed about the past, Andy's story will be cherished by those who remember their own Coppertone-scented teen summers." -- Booklist
Synopsis
" Citizen Kane does Adventureland ."- The Washington Post The outlandish, hilarious, terrifying, and almost impossible-to-believe story of the legendary, dangerous amusement park where millions were entertained and almost as many bruises were sustained, told through the eyes of the founder's son. Often called "Accident Park," "Class Action Park," or "Traction Park," Action Park was an American icon. Entertaining more than a million people a year in the 1980s, the New Jersey-based amusement playland placed no limits on danger or fun, a monument to the anything-goes spirit of the era that left guests in control of their own adventures--sometimes with tragic results. Though it closed its doors in 1996 after nearly twenty years, it has remained a subject of constant fascination ever since, an establishment completely anathema to our modern culture of rules and safety. Action Park is the first-ever unvarnished look at the history of this DIY Disneyland, as seen through the eyes of Andy Mulvihill, the son of the park's idiosyncratic founder, Gene Mulvihill. From his early days testing precarious rides to working his way up to chief lifeguard of the infamous Wave Pool to later helping run the whole park, Andy's story is equal parts hilarious and moving, chronicling the life and death of a uniquely American attraction, a wet and wild 1980s adolescence, and a son's struggle to understand his father's quixotic quest to become the Walt Disney of New Jersey. Packing in all of the excitement of a day at Action Park, this is destined to be one of the most unforgettable memoirs of the year., In the 1980s, People Didn't Just Visit Action Park. They survived it. Guests endured slides that could launch you into trees and rocks, a wave pool where lifeguards averaged ten lifesaving rescues a day, miniature tanks that fired tennis balls at 100 miles per hour, the occasional riot, and so much more. Yet they kept coming back year after year, even as the park's anything-goes philosophy spiraled out of control with outrageous-and sometimes tragic-results. Book jacket., The outlandish, hilarious, terrifying, and almost impossible-to-believe story of the legendary, dangerous amusement park where millions were entertained and almost as many bruises were sustained, told through the eyes of the founder's son Often called "Accident Park," "Class Action Park," or "Traction Park," Action Park was an American icon. Entertaining more than a million people a year in the 1980s, the New Jersey-based amusement playland placed no limits on danger or fun, a monument to the anything-goes spirit of the era that left guests in control of their own adventures--sometimes with tragic results. Though it closed its doors in 1996 after nearly twenty years, it has remained a subject of constant fascination ever since, an establishment completely anathema to our modern culture of rules and safety. Action Park is the first-ever unvarnished look at the history of this DIY Disneyland, as seen through the eyes of Andy Mulvihill, the son of the park's idiosyncratic founder, Gene Mulvihill. From his early days testing precarious rides to working his way up to chief lifeguard of the infamous Wave Pool to later helping run the whole park, Andy's story is equal parts hilarious and moving, chronicling the life and death of a uniquely American attraction, a wet and wild 1980s adolescence, and a son's struggle to understand his father's quixotic quest to become the Walt Disney of New Jersey. Packing in all of the excitement of a day at Action Park, this is destined to be one of the most unforgettable memoirs of the year., The outlandish, hilarious, terrifying, and almost impossible-to-believe story of the legendary, dangerous amusement park where millions were entertained and almost as many were injured., " Citizen Kane does Adventureland ." -- The Washington Post The outlandish, hilarious, terrifying, and almost impossible-to-believe story of the legendary, dangerous amusement park where millions were entertained and almost as many bruises were sustained, told through the eyes of the founder's son. Often called "Accident Park," "Class Action Park," or "Traction Park," Action Park was an American icon. Entertaining more than a million people a year in the 1980s, the New Jersey-based amusement playland placed no limits on danger or fun, a monument to the anything-goes spirit of the era that left guests in control of their own adventures--sometimes with tragic results. Though it closed its doors in 1996 after nearly twenty years, it has remained a subject of constant fascination ever since, an establishment completely anathema to our modern culture of rules and safety. Action Park is the first-ever unvarnished look at the history of this DIY Disneyland, as seen through the eyes of Andy Mulvihill, the son of the park's idiosyncratic founder, Gene Mulvihill. From his early days testing precarious rides to working his way up to chief lifeguard of the infamous Wave Pool to later helping run the whole park, Andy's story is equal parts hilarious and moving, chronicling the life and death of a uniquely American attraction, a wet and wild 1980s adolescence, and a son's struggle to understand his father's quixotic quest to become the Walt Disney of New Jersey. Packing in all of the excitement of a day at Action Park, this is destined to be one of the most unforgettable memoirs of the year.
LC Classification Number
GV1853.3.N52A476
Item description from the seller
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- 4***7 (238)- Feedback left by buyer.More than a year agoVerified purchase* * * * * Excellent transaction. Books arrived in better condition than expected. Highly recommend!! * * * * *
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Seller feedback (5,749,265)
This item (1)
All items (5,749,265)
- 4***7 (238)- Feedback left by buyer.More than a year agoVerified purchase* * * * * Excellent transaction. Books arrived in better condition than expected. Highly recommend!! * * * * *
- eBay automated feedback- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthOrder completed successfully—tracked and on time
- eBay automated feedback- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthOrder completed successfully—tracked and on time
- eBay automated feedback- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthOrder completed successfully—tracked and on time