American Dream, C. 1930s

In this, my favourite section of the magazine, we return every month to images that transport us back into the past. If memory serves me right, this is the first time we’re carrying images from the past that tell us what our future will hold. That future is already past — but that’s time travel for you. It’s quite a delightful genre, and highlights include French and German picture postcards from the turn of the last century which imagine what life in the year 2000 would be like. The French play underwater croquet while the Germans walk on water or flit about like moths. Then there are the Americans, with this vertiginous vision of NYC. That’s one dream that certainly seems to have come true.