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A sweeping social and environmental history, The Riviera, Exposed
illuminates the profound changes to the physical space that we know
as the quintessential European tourist destination. Stephen L. Harp
uncovers the behind-the-scenes impact of tourism following World
War II, both on the environment and on the people living and
working on the Riviera, particularly North African laborers, who
not only did much of the literal rebuilding of the Riviera but also
suffered in that process. Outside of Paris, the Riviera has been
the most visited region in France, depending almost exclusively on
tourism as its economic lifeline. Until recently, we knew a great
deal about the tourists but much less about the social and
environmental impacts of their activities or about the life stories
of the North African workers upon whom the Riviera's prosperity
rests. The technologies embedded in roads, airports, hotels, water
lines, sewers, beaches, and marinas all required human
intervention—and travelers were encouraged to disregard this
intervention. Harp's sharp analysis explores the impacts of massive
construction and public works projects, revealing the invisible
infrastructure of tourism, its environmental effects, and the
immigrants who built the Riviera. The Riviera, Exposed unearths a
gritty history, one of human labor and ecological degradation that
forms the true foundation of the glamorous Riviera of tourist
mythology.Â
When tourists travel, they often seek the exotic. The farther they
venture, the more unique the cultures they gaze upon, the greater
the prestige accrued; cross-cultural contact is commonplace. Yet
despite the obviously transnational character of the tourist
experience, national borders define existing studies of tourism.
Spanish, French, or German tourism is treated almost in isolation
and there are only hints of a larger transnational impetus behind
the creation of national tourism products. This volume tells a
different story. Although modern tourism first evolved in Europe
changes were never confined to national borders. The Grand Tour,
the birthplace of modern tourism, was consummately transnational in
both its execution and its influence. Although seaside resorts
originated in Britain, the aesthetic and scientific ideas that made
beaches desirable emerged through conversation among Dutch
painters, English travellers, and both British and Continental
scientists and philosophers. When travel was finally available to
the masses, Irish tourism advocates looked to England, Continental
Europe, and America for ideas. The Nazi leisure organization,
Strength through Joy (KdF), was based on an earlier Italian model,
the Dopolavoro. World's Fair promoters raided previous fairs in
other countries for ideas. European-wide demand and taste helped
shape nudist practice in France and beyond. At every turn,
practices and products developed because tourism lent itself to
trans-national discourse. The contributors examine a wide range of
topics that together make a powerful argument for the adoption of a
new transnational model for understanding modern tourism. An
essential addition to the library of academics studying the history
of tourism, popular culture and leisure in Europe, the book will
also provide interest to scholars of transnational topics,
including Europeanization and globalization.
In Touring China, Yajun Mo explores how early twentieth century
Chinese sightseers described the destinations that they visited,
and how their travel accounts gave Chinese readers a means to
imagine their vast country. The roots of China's tourism market
stretch back over a hundred years, when railroad and steamship
networks expanded into the coastal regions. Tourism-related
businesses and publications flourished in urban centers while
scientific exploration, investigative journalism, and wartime
travel propelled many Chinese from the eastern seaboard to its
peripheries. Mo considers not only accounts of overseas travel and
voyages across borderlands, but also trips within China. On the one
hand, via travel and travel writing, the unity of China's coastal
regions, inland provinces, and western frontiers was experienced
and reinforced. On the other, travel literature revealed a
persistent tension between the aspiration for national unity and
the anxiety that China might fall apart. Touring China tells a
fascinating story about the physical and intellectual routes people
took on various journeys, against the backdrop of the transition
from Chinese empire to nation-state.
From the dark shadow of civil war to the pastel-painted tourist
towns of today, ""Making Ireland Irish"" provides a sweeping
account of the evolution of the Irish tourist industry over the
twentieth century. Drawing on an extensive array of previously
untapped or underused sources, Eric G. E. Zuelow examines how a
small group of tourism advocates, inspired by tourist development
movements in countries such as France and Spain, worked tirelessly
to convince their Irish compatriots that tourism was the secret to
Ireland's success. Over time, tourism went from being a national
joke to a national interest. Men and women from across Irish
society joined in, eager to help shape their country and culture
for visitors' eyes. The result was Ireland as it is depicted today,
a land of blue skies, smiling faces, pastel towns, natural beauty,
ancient history, and timeless traditions. With lucid prose and
vivid detail, Zuelow explains how careful planning transformed
Irish towns and villages from grey and unattractive to bright and
inviting, sanitized Irish history to avoid offending Ireland's
largest tourist market, the English, and supplanted traditional
rural fairs revolving around muddy animals and featuring sexually
suggestive ceremonies with new family-friendly festivals and events
filling the tourist calendar today. By challenging existing notions
that the Irish tourist product is either timeless or the
consequence of colonialism, Zuelow demonstrates that the
development of tourist imagery and Irish national identity was not
the result of a handful of elites or a postcolonial legacy, but
rather the product of an extended discussion that ultimately
involved a broad cross-section of society, both inside and outside
Ireland. Tourism, he argues, played a vital role in 'making Ireland
Irish.'
A sweeping social and environmental history, The Riviera, Exposed
illuminates the profound changes to the physical space that we know
as the quintessential European tourist destination. Stephen L. Harp
uncovers the behind-the-scenes impact of tourism following World
War II, both on the environment and on the people living and
working on the Riviera, particularly North African laborers, who
not only did much of the literal rebuilding of the Riviera but also
suffered in that process. Outside of Paris, the Riviera has been
the most visited region in France, depending almost exclusively on
tourism as its economic lifeline. Until recently, we knew a great
deal about the tourists but much less about the social and
environmental impacts of their activities or about the life stories
of the North African workers upon whom the Riviera's prosperity
rests. The technologies embedded in roads, airports, hotels, water
lines, sewers, beaches, and marinas all required human
intervention-and travelers were encouraged to disregard this
intervention. Harp's sharp analysis explores the impacts of massive
construction and public works projects, revealing the invisible
infrastructure of tourism, its environmental effects, and the
immigrants who built the Riviera. The Riviera, Exposed unearths a
gritty history, one of human labor and ecological degradation that
forms the true foundation of the glamorous Riviera of tourist
mythology.
In Touring China, Yajun Mo explores how early twentieth century
Chinese sightseers described the destinations that they visited,
and how their travel accounts gave Chinese readers a means to
imagine their vast country. The roots of China's tourism market
stretch back over a hundred years, when railroad and steamship
networks expanded into the coastal regions. Tourism-related
businesses and publications flourished in urban centers while
scientific exploration, investigative journalism, and wartime
travel propelled many Chinese from the eastern seaboard to its
peripheries. Mo considers not only accounts of overseas travel and
voyages across borderlands, but also trips within China. On the one
hand, via travel and travel writing, the unity of China's coastal
regions, inland provinces, and western frontiers was experienced
and reinforced. On the other, travel literature revealed a
persistent tension between the aspiration for national unity and
the anxiety that China might fall apart. Touring China tells a
fascinating story about the physical and intellectual routes people
took on various journeys, against the backdrop of the transition
from Chinese empire to nation-state.
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