Deconstructing Travel: Cultural Perspectives on Tourism
By (Author) Arthur Asa Berger
AltaMira Press
AltaMira Press
29th July 2004
United States
General
Non Fiction
306.48
Paperback
128
Width 184mm, Height 227mm, Spine 11mm
218g
As a visible marker of globalization, the increased role of travel and tourism in our lives makes it a remarkable force in contemporary culture. Deconstructing Travel provides an easily understood framework of the relationship between travel and culture in our rapidly changing postmodern, postcolonial world. Beginning with an examination of classical expeditions in mythology, history, and literatures, Arthur Asa Berger explores the role of travel in contemporary lives, from university travel-abroad programs to package tours and family vacations. This volume is a highly-engaging look into why people travel, examining travel and tourism as a cultural phenomenon through social, cultural, psychological, and economic forces.
Berger approaches his subject not as a scientist, peering through the microscope to produce a precise dissection but as an artist, and then not a miniaturist but as a presenter of landscapes brought to our attention by a collection of bold brush strokes borrowed for present purposes from any number of schools and pressed into service to create a wonderfully evocative and interesting pastiche. . . Berger is at his best when discussing travel writing. * Tourist Studies *
Arthur Asa Berger, retired professor from San Francisco State University, is the author of over 40 books, including the mystery novel/textbook Postmortem for a Postmodernist and The Kabblah Killings and editor of The Postmodern Presence: Readings on Postmodernism in American Culture and Society.