The Incredible Scream Machine: A History of the Roller Coaster

In 1984 America celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of the first successful roller coaster device: La Marcus A. Thompson's switchback railway, erected at Coney Island. Robert Cartmell examines every phase of roller coaster history, from the use of the roller coaster by Albert Einstein to demonstrate his theory of physics, to John Allen's use of psychology in designing one.