German Travel Cultures (Leisure, Consumption and Culture) - Softcover

Koshar, Rudy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1859734510 ISBN 13: 9781859734513

Publisher: Berg Publishers, 2000

Synopsis

Travel guidebooks are an important part of contemporary culture, but we know relatively little about their history and importance to the evolution of tourism. Germany not only produced the first international standard for travel handbooks, the Baedeker, but also became a major tourist destination early in the twentieth century. This is the first comprehensive discussion of the history of tourist guidebooks for any modern nation.Selecting representative texts - the first Baedeker to unified Germany, guides to Berlin sex life and sites of Nazi martyrdom, a tour guide for the German worker and American tourbooks to West Germany - this fascinating study relates the history of tourist literature to the formation of distinct 'travel cultures' oriented to specific audiences, tastes and ideologies.

About this title

About the Author

Rudy Koshar DAAD Professor of German and European Studies,University of Wisconsin at Madison

Reviews

Koshar presents no academic credentials, but his book boasts a hefty 450-plus-item bibliography, indicating thorough coverage of a narrow subject. (Similar studies of tourist culture include Larry Krotz's Tourists, LJ 11/15/96, o.p., Lynne Withey's Grand Tours and Cook's Tours, LJ 1/97, and Mark Newmann's On the Rim, LJ 10/15/99). Part of a series that Koshar edits at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, this historical and sociological analysis of tourist literature about Germany begins with the granddaddy of guidebooks, Baedeker, and defines its influence on both native and foreign tourists. The book ends with Fodor's guides and the division of Germany into East and West (interpreted as "good" and "bad"). In between, Koshar explores every facet of German tourism, including Germany's sex trade and the effects of two world wars. No doubt Koshar's scholarship is valuable, if a bit obscure, but its limited appeal means that this work will find readership only in academic libraries with related collections.AJanet Ross, Sparks Branch Lib., NV
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Berg Publishers
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1859734510
• ISBN 13: 9781859734513
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256