Abstract
The introduction to this book explores the various perspectives of the American West and considers the role of imagination in forming visions of western spaces. While the West has been seen as a land of opportunity, this vision has its counter in the violence, suffering, and death at sites of dark tourism. These spaces and the artifacts they contain (an abandoned piano, a deserted house) invite reflection on the “tangible material losses” of westward migration. Dawes also considers the value of dark tourism as it allows us to view the western spaces and places from different perspectives. She provides a roadmap for this book and explains some of the larger connections among the works in this volume.
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Notes
- 1.
I discuss early California settlers’ impulse to chronicle their experiences in my introduction to ’49er Sarah Royce’s memoir. See Jennifer Dawes Adkison. “Authorship, Authenticity and the Gold Rush West: An Introduction to Across the Plains by Sarah Royce.” Across the Plains: Sarah Royce’s Western Narrative. Women’s Western Voices Series (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2009).
- 2.
Ann Ronald. GhostWest: Reflections Past and Present (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002). 21.
- 3.
Kent C. Ryden. Mapping the Invisible Landscape: Folklore, Writing, and the Sense of Place (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1993). 40.
- 4.
Sondra Brand and Nina Platter. “Dark Tourism: The Commoditisation of Suffering and Death.” The Long Tail of Tourism: Holiday Niches and their Impact on Mainstream Tourism. Ed. Alexis Papathanassis (New York: Springer, 2011), 7–15.
- 5.
John Lennon and Malcolm Foley. Dark Tourism: The Attraction of Death and Disaster (London: Continuum, 2000). 8.
- 6.
Philip R. Stone. “Dark Tourism in an Age of ‘Spectacular Death.’” The Palgrave Handbook of Dark Tourism Studies. Eds Philip R. Stone et al. (London: Palgrave Macmillan), 191.
- 7.
Joel Gunter. “‘Yolocaust’: How should you behave at a Holocaust memorial?” BBC News. 20 January 2017. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38675835 (accessed 24 March 2019).
- 8.
Shahak Shapira. “Dear Internet.” Yolocaust. https://yolocaust.de/ (accessed 24 March 2019).
Bibliography
Adkison, Jennifer Dawes. 2009. Authorship, Authenticity and the Gold Rush West: An Introduction to Across the Plains by Sarah Royce. In Across the Plains: Sarah Royce’s Western Narrative, Women’s Western Voices Series. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
Brand, Sondra, and Nina Platter. 2011. Dark Tourism: The Commoditisation of Suffering and Death. In The Long Tail of Tourism: Holiday Niches and their Impact on Mainstream Tourism, ed. Alexis Papathanassis, 7–15. New York: Springer.
Gunter, Joel. 2017. ‘Yolocaust’: How Should You Behave at a Holocaust Memorial? BBC News, January 20. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38675835. Accessed 24 Mar 2019.
Lennon, John, and Malcolm Foley. 2000. Dark Tourism: The Attraction of Death and Disaster. London: Continuum.
Ronald, Ann. 2002. GhostWest: Reflections Past and Present. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
Ryden, Kent C. 1993. Mapping the Invisible Landscape: Folklore, Writing, and the Sense of Place. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.
Shapira, Shahak. Dear Internet. Yolocaust. https://yolocaust.de/. Accessed 24 Mar 2019.
Stone, Philip R. 2018. Dark Tourism in an Age of ‘Spectacular Death’. In The Palgrave Handbook of Dark Tourism Studies, ed. Philip R. Stone et al. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
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Dawes, J. (2020). Introduction: Dark Tourism in the American West. In: Dawes, J. (eds) Dark Tourism in the American West. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21190-5_1
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