On Holiday: A History of Vacationing / Edition 1

by Orvar Löfgren

Overview

Löfgren takes us on a tour of the Western holiday world and shows how two centuries of "learning to be a tourist" have shaped our own ways of vacationing. We see how fashions in destinations have changed through the years, with popular images (written, drawn, painted, and later photographed) teaching the tourist what to look for and how to experience it. Travelers present and future will never see their cruises, treks, ecotours, round-the-world journeys, or trips to the vacation cottage or condo in quite the same way again. All our land-, sea-, and mindscapes will be the richer for Löfgren's insights.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520234642
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	07/01/2002
Series:	California Studies in Critical Human Geography , #6
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	334
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Orvar Löfgren, Professor of European Ethnology at the University of Lund, Sweden, has written a dozen books. His best-known work is also in English: Culture Builders: A Historical Anthropology of Middle-Class Life (with Jonas Frykman, 1987).

Editorial Reviews

A history of that anti-history; a treatment of our collective annual fortnight away as a strange and fascinating parallel reality that runs year-round.

National Post

Lofgren's decision to take our daydreams seriously, and to note how we try to translate them into reality given half a chance, is fruitful.

Times Literary Supplement

Lofgren, a professor of European enthology in Sweden, has written several books (i.e., Culture Builders: A Historical Anthropology of Middle-Class Life). Here he uses concepts and ideas from various social science disciplines, as well as frequent literary examples, to explore the history of tourism in the United States and Europe. He notes the inherent tensions in tourism: the desire to see everything v. the desire to get away from it all, the local v. the global, and the quest for novelty despite the commodification of tourism. He uses examples like vacation cottages, bus tours, the idea of "the beach," and souvenirs to make his arguments. The most interesting parts, however, are those that touch upon issues such as gender, morality, and class. Although the text occasionally wanders, overall it is interesting and well researched. Recommended for social science and social history collections.--Kathleen A. Shanahan, Kensington, MD Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

The reader is well rewarded by his historical treatment, which carefully identifies national trends. Lofgren's use of descriptive and analytical first-person accounts of vacationing's many aspects is even more of a pleasure boat ride.
— ForeWord

Peter Skinner

Lofgren's introduction and conclusion in fact turn out to be the most intellectually striking parts of the book...What's in between is a highly memorable bricolage of anecdote, observation and truism. It is what makes On Holidaynot just a valuable addition to the shelves of students of tourism but also an enjoyable and accessible read.
—The Nation

John Ghazvinian