Sears offers us not only an explanation of the popularity of certain tourist spots but also an enlightening discussion of the role that tourism played in helping Americans fashion a distinctive national culture in the six decades after 1820. - American Historical Review - ""Sears's study is unique in its focus on nineteenth-century tourism and its role in shaping American culture. This book is no mere description of tourist attractions but rather a sophisticated analysis of their contribution to America's cultural awareness."" - History - ""Absorbing and scrupulously researched ... Sears's observations on a significant form of American leisure have the snap and sparkle of Winslow Homer's pictures of young parasol-twirling female divinities gracing the New Jersey shore."" - Washington Post - ""Originally promoted by the educated elite and by leading writers and painters, tourism has since become a democratic mass movement. What makes Sacred Places important as well as interesting is that by tracing the history of tourist attractions to their origins. Sears supplies a certain perspective."" - The Nation - ""Elegantly written essays about the world of the genteel tourist in the nineteenth century ... [Sacred Places] is laden with insights about what the public expects from its history, and would be especially valuable for those public historians who serve tourists today at scenic and historical sites."" - Public Historian - ""A work of exceptional intelligence and deep research. It is essential reading for all students of landscape history."" - Simon Schama, Columbia University - ""Sears's book is the authoritative study of American tourism at its nineteenth-century point of origin. Using sensitive readings of literature, visual imagery, and geography, this book offers a complex, convincing account of a phenomenon too often dismissed as just another example of 'commercialism.'"" - Karal Ann Marling, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
