Power and Politics at the Seaside

Reviews / Votes

This book is carefully and well researched, making good use of local tourism reports and the press, and is especially strong in following the promotional literature of the Devon resorts ... A useful reminder of the importance of the sea coast in the development of tourism in the last century. Those unfamiliar with the current issues in tourism studies will also find the book a good introduction to the field. * Mariner's Mirror, * To an unusual extent, this book shows awareness of the parallel literatures both of the social history of tourism and leisure, and of the mix of economics, anthropology, geography and cultural studies (including the new cultural geography) which provides the dominant influences on tourism studies. An important part of the authors' agenda involves making tourism studies aware of the importance of history ... But the ideas should also travel in the opposite direction, making historians more aware of the importance of tourism and the issues it raises. The themes Morgan and Pritchard choose to emphasize are of particular interest to urban historians ... This is a well-constructed, original and sustained analysis which should interest a wide range of readerships across several disciplines ... A very good book whose efforts to pull together disparate constituencies merit high praise. * Urban History, Vol. 28, no. 3 * [The book] is particularly to be welcomed for opening up a number of twentieth century themes in tourism in an historically aware manner. Reading overall as a cultural and political analysis, it usefully complements and refreshes a field which will welcome this contribution to the debate. * International Journal of Maritime History, Vol. XII, No. 2 * The politics of tourism development is a neglected field and this book provides a detailed and, at times, painful analysis of important themes in this context which will be of value to readers without a specific interest in Devon as a location ... The authors provide excellent illustrative archival material to support their analysis ... Their work is fascinating in its insights. * Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 28, No. 2) * The place of the British seaside in academic study is strengthening, and this study is a splendid addition, with some nice illustrations ... The focus on power and politics is central and of immense interest. It is not unique to the Devon resorts, or indeed to seaside resorts in Britain, but parallels and echoes are to be found in the experience of any tourist destination. * Albion, Vol. 32, Issue 4, Winter * Students of the history of tourism are recommended to it as much as those studying tourism policy-making. * Tourism Management * A technically well-researched account ... this book provides a useful addition to an important niche within the tourism literature and will, undoubtedly, be well referenced by writers addressing the much-studied theme of coastal resort decline and potential for revival. * Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 28, No. 2 * ... a welcome contribution to the field ... * Power and Politics at the Seaside Albion Spring *