J. Mark Souther

From promo material: "...remarkable stories behind the places Americans love to visit...hidden backstory of transforming places into destinations....powerful creative process, rather than chance, has separated the enduring attractions from the many failures..."

Well, yes, it was some of that but pretty surface level stuff - certainly not "remarkable," and it was mostly the same story over and over in the 35 places profiled. Which means that the stories aren't really "hidden." Pretty dry stuff too. The basic story is how a single person or group is responsible for taking an existing natural thing or created place and turning it into a tourism destination. The book is from 2012 too, so a decade old, but probably many of the places profiled haven't changed that much since then. The inclusion of New Glarus, WI seemed like an odd choice too, when compared with Disney, Beale Street, San Diego Zoo, Naples kind of places.

I guess I wanted more details and discussion about fewer places. It was fun to read background of places I've visited recently, but too little and nothing very "remarkable."… (mehr)