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I'm Anne Strange Am. Today, amusement parks.

When I was a kid, summer break never felt complete without a trip to Fantasy Island near Niagara Falls.

By today's standards, I guess it was pretty tame. I remember a wooden

roller coaster called the Silver Comet, and a ferris wheel, and my favorite, a gigantic slide as

tall as a building. You climbed up to the top, and then you sat on a burlap sack, and then you slid

about 50 miles an hour down. It was both terrifying and thrilling.

I bet you have memories like that, too.

Some wonderland full of noise, and the smell of butter and pink cotton candy.

Coney Island, Six Flags, Pacific Park.

When you're a kid, they're all magical.

But amusement parks have also shaped America in some profound ways. Historian Lauren

Rabinovitz says they helped modernize the country. She tells Steve Paulson they introduced

Americans to the wonders of technology. A hundred years ago, you wouldn't have seen the roller

coasters that we think of now when we think of an amusement park. Back then, they were scenic

railways, and they only

went about 20 miles an hour. The technology had not been developed yet. But you'd see a lot of

different rides that would take people into darkness. And the big centerpiece of the park would

...