What is meaningful about the experience of travelling abroad? What feeds the impulse to explore new horizons? In Being a Tourist, Harrison analyzes her conversations with a large group of upper-middle-class travellers. Why, she asks, do these people invest their resources -- financial, emotional, psychological, and physical -- in this activity? Harrison suggests that they are fuelled by several desires, including a search for intimacy and connection, an expression of personal aesthetic, an exploration of the understanding of "home," and a sensemaking strategy for a globalized world. She also reflects on the moral and political complexities of the travels of these people.

Being a Tourist draws on a wide range of social theory, going beyond current debates of authenticity and consumption. Engagingly and thoughtfully written, it will be required reading for those in anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, and, more generally, for anyone interested in tourism studies and travel writing.

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Julia D. Harrison, formerly a museum curator, is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at Trent University.

The flavor is ethnographic and particularistic; Harrison provides many conceptual frames through which to view the experiences of her interviewees, yet their own voices come through. This retention of individuality makes the book unique, providing an unusual narrative depth. The author's command of the theoretical literature is impressive ... Highly recommended.

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