"The aim of this book is to reconstruct the early history of anthropological and sociological thinking about what has sometimes been thought of as a frivolous subject. In order to do this, the editor has made use of participating informants - anthropologists and sociologists - who have been pioneers in the field of tourism study. Because they have been involved since the beginning, and continue still, these pioneers are able to give us an insider's view of the development of a new field of study from the point of view of their particular disciplines, which are centrally situated as far as the social scientific study of tourism is concerned. Besides writing his own personal history, the editor, who himself, is a pioneer, has contributed probing introductory and concluding chapters, in which he gives an overview of the entire scholarly enterprise that makes up the field of tourism study. Because of its broad-ranging, multidisciplinary point of view, the book should provide essential background reading not only for specialists in the field, but also thoughtful others who would like to make sense of an enterprise, which as the book suggests, turns out to be not nearly as frivolous as previously imagined."--BOOK JACKET