In this classic analysis of travel and tourism, Dean MacCannell adapts the understanding of sociology to tourism in the post-industrial era, during which the middle class has secured time for travel to international destinations.

In "The Tourist" - now with a new introduction framing the book as part of a broader contemporary social and cultural analysis - MacCannell examines the concept of authenticity, high and low culture, and the construction of social reality around tourism.

"More than a perceptive, enjoyable discussion of tourists and tourism, "The Tourist" is also a skillful blend of structuralist thinking... Both MacCannell's writing style and theoretical insight are genuine contributions to the sociological academic journey."
SUZANNE WEDOW, Contemporary Sociology

"MacCannell attempts to create something that Levi-Strauss characterized as impossible: an ethnography of modernism, a detailed anthropological analysis of contemporary culture... By following The Tourist, he believes, we may reach a better understanding of ourselves."

JOHN COYNE, Washington Post Book World

"In demythologizing Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class, MacCannell presents the first comprehensive sociological examination of tourism and travel in the modern era."

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

"The Tourist is one of those books that we can enjoy for its ingenuity, the questions it raises, and the answers it provides."

ANATOLE BROYARD, New York Times