New Stuff Tuesday – October 18

We’ll Always Have Paris
American Tourists in France Since 1930
by Harvey Levenstein
DC34.5 .A44 L49 2004
New Arrivals, 2nd floor

As I busily rush around trying to tie up some loose ends before heading to New York tomorrow [HA, Barb!], I obviously have travel on the brain. Therefore, it should be no surprise with the title that I have chosen for this week’s New Stuff Tuesday. France is on the list of places to return again – just have to renew the passport.

Levenstein, history professor at McMaster University in Ontario [Canada], takes a look at our country’s travel patterns overseas to the land of cheese, wine, and fashion over the last seventy-five years. He details the development of the love-hate relationship between the French and their American visitors, from World War I and the subsequent world events that tainted the water, so to speak. The author contends that France’s more liberal stance on social issues contributed to both the disdain and attraction for the United States tourists. As a scholarly work, Levenstein does a fantastic job of utilizing a variety of both primary and secondary research and sharing those sources with the reader – perfect for starting your own investigation on the topic.