Description: This book presents for the first time a sociological analysis of the cultural phenomenon, the Taj Mahal. It describes many of the tourist practices around the Taj as well as considering the notion of tourism in a wider context.
Review Quotes: ""In this fascinating study, the author attempts to unravel the multiple narratives of the Taj [Mahal] told and performed by tourists. Edensor is mindful that tourism and ethnography, like colonialism, are forms of intervention, inhabiting a space created by Western power." --Frank J. Korom, Boston Univ. for "Religious Studies Review."
..."it certainly makes for a fine text within the cultural study of tourism."
-"Annals of Tourism Research
"This volume presents a rich mix of description and appli cable theory...well documented discussion on the construction of touristic spaces....Upper-division undergraduates and above."
-"Choice, June 1999
""Tourists at the Taj is a must-read for all who are interested in the phenomenon of tourism, the construction of meanings around sites and sights, and/or contemporary India.it is a fine study that summarizes much of the scholarship on tourism, introduces a useful vocabulary, and articulates the contested nature of sites frequented by tourists. Art historians will find it a thought-provoking work, opening new avenues for exploring not only the intersection between tourism and art history, but also the narratives about monuments.."