Interrogating Travel - by Paul Lindholdt (Paperback)

About the Book

"Interrogating Travel fuses firsthand narratives with research about the travel trade, telling the story of the author's reluctant world travel while arguing that carbon-intensive trips abroad may be offset if travelers come to know and love the landscapes closer to home. The initial manuscript was nearly complete when the COVID pandemic hit, and the final chapter, "Tidings from the Virus," contrasts viral shocks to the tourist industry with the lockdown's manifold advantages for nature. In the book's first section, "Among the Beloved," Lindholdt relates the disappearance of a son who was kayaking in Puget Sound, a painful story that frames the rest of the section (and the book as a whole) with the reminder of the importance of spending time with loved ones and doing what one loves. "Among the Predatory," the book's second section, looks closely at predation as it inflects travel's larger trends. Connections are made between "natural" predation and some astonishingly voracious human activities. "Shooters and the Tools They Use" analyzes the sport of hunting to show humankind's aptitude for rapacity. Our power plants and cars, our airplanes and factories, are symptomatic figuratively of our predatory habits. This section begins with a belated honeymoon in Paris, France, and it concludes with backyard observations of a wild hawk. Birdwatching as a counterpart to travel necessitates no internal combustion. Finally, "Among the Indigenous" takes readers to destinations near and far to contemplate the impacts of first-world business and industry upon natives of Hawaii, Belize, French Polynesia, Thailand, and the Pacific Northwest. For all the lip service paid to preserving traditional cultures, the tourist trade often dictates their degeneration. Most of the Indigenous folks who appear in this section are micro-minorities, their populations shrinking before the onslaught. Tourism, according to the World Trade Organization, may be the planet's largest industry. The present book conducts readers to local getaways and to some of the planet's most remote locations, all while urging mindfulness of unforeseeable outcomes"--

Book Synopsis

Never in human history has travel been so accessible to so many. But--amid an escalating climate crisis that threatens the homes of vulnerable people across the world--has the human cost of trekking the globe become too high? Paul Lindholdt links firsthand narratives with research about the travel trade, telling stories of his reluctant voyages while arguing that carbon-intensive trips abroad may be offset if adventurers come to know and love the landscapes closer to home. Tourism may be the planet's largest industry, but Interrogating Travel advises readers to stay mindful of the consequences of their journeys, whether visiting local getaways or some of Earth's most remote locations.

Review Quotes

". . . an intriguing study of global tourism and its cultural and ecological consequences. . . . Interleaving his analysis with autobiographical reflections ('In the shadow of the Mayan Apocalypse, liberal guilt had me in its grip. First-world privilege was tainting every sip and bite of paradise I tried'), Lindholdt powerfully expresses his hope that, as 'sensible apes, we ought to be capable of learning from our mistakes and . . . overcoming this rough epoch our technology has wrought.' This will give jet-setters plenty to ponder."--Publishers Weekly

"Interrogating Travel contributes to the large body of literature devoted to travel, but it stands apart in the author's honest look at both the personal and planetary costs. We live in a time of tours and tourists crisscrossing the globe ceaselessly, when the impacts on ecologies and communities are grave."--Robert Boschman, author of White Coal City: A Memoir of Place and Family

"In soaring prose and with a fine eye for observation, Lindholdt examines modern tourism from hometown to exotic destination. Interrogating Travel will expand your idea of journeying, whether through the motion of dance, the layers of prehistory in the backyard, a jungle lodge in Belize, or the aesthetic of solitude."--Sarah Conover, author of Set Adrift: My Family's Disappearance in the Bermuda Triangle

"Paul Lindholdt gets around . . . and his tour is our gain. These intelligent essays grasp the nettle of our tainted relation to travel--its seduction, its promise, its implications. Put down that Lonely Planet: Interrogating Travel is today's guidebook to this neocolonial, climate-changed globe."--Jeffrey McCarthy, director of environmental humanities at the University of Utah

"This book offers a thought-provoking, kaleidoscopic reflection on the complexities of marrying international travel with a commitment to environmental responsibility."--Carl Thompson, author of Travel Writing

About the Author

Paul Lindholdt grew up on the Salish Sea but divides his time between Spokane and Sandpoint, Idaho. He teaches literature and environmental studies at Eastern Washington University. His work has been recognized by the Academy of American Poets, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Washington Center for the Book. He earned the Washington State Book Award for his ecological memoir, In Earshot of Water: Notes from the Columbia Plateau.