Overview

Dark tourism is the practice of visiting sites associated with death and disaster. Participation is increasing, yet the machinations behind dark tourism remain shrouded in mystery, and intentionally so. This book explores the seductive premise of 'transformation' that dark tourism offers: that visiting memorials to past tragedy will ultimately lead us to become better versions of ourselves. Championed by enthusiastic governments - notably in the UK - 'must have' memorialisation provides an opportunity to engage the public with contrived grief from the past to be replaced by establishment neglect in the future. From the waters of Loch Ness to the chaos of Mexico's Dia de Muertos, H.E. Sawyer considers the questions feared by state-sponsored dark tourism, and poses one of his own: 'Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?'

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9781915316172

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Reviews

Absolutely loved this book. An antidote to so much recent sensationalism. A very human look at ethical issues in dark tourism. -Dr James Kennell - Principal Lecturer in tourism, events and hospitality at the University of Greenwich and Executive Director of the London office of International Tourism Studies Association. From his travels he has brought back a book - a very good book, that informs about these locations and the tragedies that befell them but also that openly questions his own motivations and his own life-experiences that may have inspired him to specifically seek out and visit sites of tremendous sorrow and death. -Andy Paciorek, Folk Horror Revival H E Sawyer excels at finding the poignant, human note in the horrors underlying the sites he visits, and there isn't a single chapter where this deeper engagement isn't apparent. -Ally Wilkes, Horrified

Author Information

H E Sawyer spent over 40 years travelling to dark sites in blissful ignorance before discovering this behaviour had been defined by academics and sensationalised by the mainstream media. His first book, 'I Am The Dark Tourist: Travels to the Darkest Sites on Earth', published by Headpress in 2018, presented postcard views of globally renowned sites of death and disaster from the tourist's perspective, offering an alternative to the ghoulish stereotype of who and what a 'dark tourist' might be.With this second book he considers the machinations behind the presentation of dark tourism to an increasingly engaged public. He provides perspective and a note of caution as we are beckoned towards the latest dark attractions only made possible by the untimely ends of people just like us.

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