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5.0 out of 5 stars
Great angle, Dec 15 2008
This review is from: Wanderlust: A Social History of Travel (Paperback)
The author is Canadian so we get loads of Canadian-centric references thrown in but, unlike the usual, these are actually interesting tidbits. So kudos on that score.
Figuring out why mass travel is the way it is by looking back at how it evolved through history is a brilliant idea. The book also is written in a breezy style with plenty of modern-day pop culture references so your brain does not explode from the historical or literary ones.
All in all it's a well-balanced book and can be read in snippets given each chapter literally stands well on its own and features plenty of short mini-essays, so to speak, on various aspects of travel (i.e., airport terminal design evolution, the Romans sailing away to ports afar or how traveller's cheques came into being). There's no straight narrative other than, say, starting from the pilgrims heading out to sea to the current space age attempts at travel (hello, Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic!).
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Pack your bags!, May 27 2007
This review is from: Wanderlust: A Social History of Travel (Paperback)
About two million years ago an upright, ape-like creature wandered out of Africa, heading east. Some scientists tell us that he was looking for breakfast, but given the vast resources of the continent he was leaving, that seems unlikely. Was it just curiosity? The human species is the only one that left its homeland to spread across the planet. Always on the move, we've covered the globe, yet remain unsatisfied - we continue journeying. Laura Byrne Paquet chronicles how travel has been, and remains, a draw. In this highly readable account, she depicts pilgrimages, travel for leisure, for culture, for expanding our outlook. Clearly, travel is something people engage in for many reasons - if they can afford it.
Opening with the logical question: "Why Leave Home?", Paquet goes on to explain the allure of unknown, usually distant, places. The religious trek, she claims, is "the first real tourism". She defines that as travel for "non-essential reasons" as compared to military or merchant journeys. Nor is pilgrimage confined to Christian trips to "holy places". The ancient Egyptians and Greeks sought shrines, while more modern Muslims and Buddhists all have obligatory journeys for faith reasons. Traveller's stories of places seen en route led to secular treks, often reported back home. Such travel remained the pursuit of individuals, usually by the wealthy or scholars. With the fall of the Roman Empire, both religious and secular travel faded during the Dark Ages.
Journeys to interesting and favoured places didn't arise until much later. The emergence of an affluent middle class led to The Grand Tour - visiting the major European "cultural" sites. As the number of those making the excursions increased, accommodating them created new forms of temporary residence. The author follows the shift from inns with indifferent hosts to splendid hotels with staff catering to the visitor's every whim. Reports of these available amenities prompted followers. Where once aristocrats sent sons to Paris, Rome and Naples to further their education, more people, from more classes of society . These journeys remained the foundation of how travel would develop - a source of education, enjoyment and novel forms of entertainment. But was getting there half the fun?
Paquet then examines the various means of making excursions. Coaches, once crude and rickety, prompted innovations in design and construction. Following them came the railroad. Originally considered dangerous and dirty, passenger cars added their own amenities. Scheduling, erratic at best, led to the development of universal time zones, limited only by the persistence of local prejudices. The author describes the Blackball Line's initiating regular Hudson River trips, followed by an engrossing account of the rise of regular trans-Atlantic crossings. The Blackball Line's scheduled voyages had been preceded by an even more momentous event, the Clermont's steam-driven journey to Albany. Steamboats gave new meaning to both scheduling and speed. It's interesting to this reviewer that Paquet notes Mark Twain's Huck Finn as indicative of "transformation of travel" without mentioning his first full-length work, "The Innocents Abroad". That book combined her two major themes, pilgrimage and Grand Tour, in one volume.
That omission doesn't fault the research Paquet used as the foundation for this work. Travel books abound, as a visit to any bookstore will verify. Travel histories are a rare commodity, and this one is an excellent introduction. Histories of the various topics she covers are also abundant - books on railroading, shipping and, in particular, the commercial aircraft industry would make any bookshelf groan with the mass of paper. Paquet's coverage of air travel is a fine summation, with many unexpected details. She even steps outside the main theme, discussing such esoteric topics as souvenirs and bizarre inducements places use to attract visitors. Travel agents are traced - even money exchange issues don't escape her scrutiny. Yet, her lively writing style and obvious enthusiasm for the subject make this a book to treasure.
At the end, Paquet takes us back to our beginnings. Travel, cheaper to undertake than ever before, may be immensely costly in the future. She cites columnist George Monbiot, whose recent book "Heat: How to Keep the Planet From Burning", reminds us that there are travel costs reaching well beyond the price of the ticket. Paquet is hesitant to endorse Monbiot fully, noting that our urge to make journeys will likely take some of us into space as tourists. Without travel, she says, we might all be living within a short distance of the site of our African origins. Which returns us to why it all started in the first place. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
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