Selling the Sights : : The Invention of the Tourist in American Culture / / Will B. Mackintosh.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter New York University Press Complete eBook-Package 2019
• VerfasserIn: Mackintosh, Will B.,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : New York University Press, , [2019]; ©2019
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Series: Early American Places ; 16
• Physical Description: 1 online resource :; 18 black and white illustrations

A fascinating journey through the origins of American tourismIn the early nineteenth century, thanks to a booming transportation industry, Americans began to journey away from home simply for the sake of traveling, giving rise to a new cultural phenomenon —the tourist.In Selling the Sights, Will B. Mackintosh describes the origins and cultural significance of this new type of traveler and the moment in time when the emerging American market economy began to reshape the availability of geographical knowledge, the material conditions of travel, and the variety of destinations that sought to profit from visitors with money to spend. Entrepreneurs began to transform the critical steps of travel—deciding where to go and how to get there—into commodities that could be produced in volume and sold to a marketplace of consumers. The identities of Americans prosperous enough to afford such commodities were fundamentally changed as they came to define themselves through the consumption of experiences.Mackintosh ultimately demonstrates that the cultural values and market forces surrounding tourism in the early nineteenth century continue to shape our experience of travel to this day.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction: A Physiology of Travelers -- 1 / Describing the Terraqueous Globe: Tourists and the Culture of Geographical Knowledge -- 2 / Yesterday the Springs, To- day the Falls: Tourism and the Commodification of Travel -- 3 / I Find Myself a Pilgrim: Commodified Experience and the Invention of the Tourist -- 4 / I’ll Picturesque It Everywhere: The Archetype of the Tourist in Satire -- 5 / Traveling to Good Purpose: The Invention of the True Traveler -- Epilogue: Not For Tourists -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Index -- About the Author