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50 Dark Destinations

50 Dark Destinations

Crime and Contemporary Tourism

Edited by Adam Lynes, Craig Kelly and James Treadwell

"Makes light reading of some of the world's most historically disturbing places. Read on if you dare to delve beneath their comfortable veneers and deeper into their world of disconcertedness." Daniel Briggs, Universidad Europea

  • Description

    From the Alcatraz East Crime Museum and Jack the Ripper guided tours to the Phnom Penh killing fields, ‘dark tourism’ is now a multi-million-pound global industry. Even in the most pleasant tourist destinations, underlying harms are constantly perpetuated, affecting both consumers and those who work or live around such tourist hotspots. Highlighting 50 travel destinations across six continents, expert criminologists, psychologists and historians explore the past and contemporary issues which we often disregard during our everyday leisure.

    This captivating book is the ‘go-to’ guide for anyone interested in crime and deviance-related tourism. Accessible and digestible, it exposes a worrying trend in contemporary consumer culture, in which many of us partake.


  • In the media

  • Reviews

    “Fun and scholarly, engaging and academic, interesting and intellectual, and should be widely read by anyone interested in violence, trauma, memory, memorialisation, war, museums and history. The subject matter is gruesome and chilling but at the same time accessible and illuminating.” Kevin Walby, University of Winnipeg

    “Captures how all societies have fascinations with the macabre, but pushes this notion to ask how curiosity became tourism. ... Should leave us reflecting on our age where everything has a price but do we really understand the price that has been paid?" Lisa Mckenzie, University of Bedfordshire

    "Makes light reading of some of the world's most historically disturbing places. Read on if you dare to delve beneath their comfortable veneers and deeper into their world of disconcertedness." Daniel Briggs, Universidad Europea

    “Infused with interesting facts and sharp observations about famous and not so famous ‘destinations’ all over the world, this book is a page-turner. Simultaneously cool and serious, rich and approachable, 50 Dark Destinations will provide you with a fresh way of viewing leisure, place and culture.” Georgios A. Antonopoulos, Northumbria University

    “Succinct, contextualised and insightful. Reveals the complex reasons why so many of us enjoy ‘grazing’ on carefully curated spectacles of suffering, desolation and death. With this cutting-edge criminological analysis, we can actually learn something about ourselves.” Steve Hall, Teesside University

    “A fascinating travelogue of trouble. The tourist gaze that animates the book is particularly chilling, revealing the global span of crime – and the insatiable global appetite for crime’s ghostly residues.” Jeff Ferrell, author of Drift: Illicit Mobility and Uncertain Knowledge

    "A fascinating collection of essays on dark tourist destinations. It digs beneath the commercialisation of harm, while bringing into focus the reasons for our obsessions with it."

    Anthony Ellis, University of Lincoln

  • Contents

    Introduction - Adam Lynes, Craig Kelly and James Treadwell

    1. Cocaine Bear: Lexington, Kentucky, USA - Travis Linnemann

    2. Whitney Plantation: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA - Thomas Raymen

    3. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution: Washington DC, USA - Alice Storey

    4. From Newgate Prison to Tyburn Tree: the Old Bailey, London, UK - Peter Joyce and Wendy Laverick

    5. Jack the Ripper Tour: Whitechapel, London, UK - Kevin Hoffin

    6. The Alcatraz East Crime Museum: Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, USA - Laura Hammond

    7. The Museum of Death: Hollywood, Los Angeles, USA - Loukas Ntanos

    8. The Royal Armouries Museum: Leeds, UK - Sarah Jones

    9. The Black Dahlia tour: Los Angeles, California, USA - David Wilson

    10. The Execution Dock: Wapping, East London, UK - Wendy Laverick and Peter Joyce

    11. Auschwitz: Oświęcim, Poland - Tammy Ayres and Sarah Hodgkinson

    12. Jeju 4:3 memorial: Jeju Island, South Korea - Robin West

    13. Museum Dr. Guislain: Ghent, Belgium - Sophie Gregory

    14. Karosta Prison Hotel: Liepāja, Latvia - Melindy Duffus

    15. The Clink prison-based restaurant: Brixton, London, UK - Dan Rusu

    16. The 9/11 memorial and museum: New York, New York, USA - John Bahadur Lamb

    17. The Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocidal Crimes: Phnom Penh, Cambodia - Eamonn Carrabine

    18. Choeung Ek killing field: Phnom Penh, Cambodia - Luke Telford

    19. Blue lights in the Red Light District: Amsterdam, the Netherlands - Ben Colliver

    20. Trophy hunting: sub-Saharan Africa - Patrick Berry and Gary R. Potter

    21. 'The ugly side to the beautiful game': Qatar - Grace Gallacher

    22. Burning Man festival: Black Rock Desert, Nevada, USA - Keith Hayward

    23. Magaluf: Majorca - Simon Winlow

    24. 'Holiday Hooters': Hong Kong - Katie Lowe

    25. Scilla: Calabria, Italy - Anna Sergi

    26. The Kray twins tours: London, UK - Craig Ancrum

    27. Backpacking in the outback: Uluru, Northern Territory, Australia - Eveleigh Buck-Matthews and Craig Kelly

    28. The hippie trail: Nepal, South Asia - Emiline Smith

    29. The Museum of Confiscated Art: Brest, Belarus - Donna Yates and Hannah London

    30. Steroid holidays: Sharm El Sheikh, Sinai Peninsula, Egypt - Nick Gibbs

    31. The Souks: Tunis, Tunisia - Kyla Bavin and James Treadwell

    32. Mezhyhirya Residence Museum: Novi Petrivtsi, Ukraine - Tereza Østbø Kuldova and Jardar Østbø

    33. The great British seaside: various locations, UK - Neil Chakraborti

    34. The Biggie mural: Brooklyn, New York, USA - Natasha Pope

    35. The Rebus guided tour: Edinburgh, UK - Ian R. Cook and Michael Rowe

    36. Volunteer tourism - 'doing it for the 'gram': Cambodia, Southeast Asia - Orlando Woods

    37. The Staycation: home - Jack Denham

    38. The 'suicide forest': Aokigahara, Japan - Max Hart

    39. Pitcairn Island: Pitcairn Islands, Pacific Ocean - Steve Wadley

    40. Favela tours: Rio De Janerio, Brazil - Duncan Frankis and Selina Patel Nascimento

    41. Skid Row walking tours: Los Angeles, California, USA - Craig Kelly

    42. The 2019-2020 anti-extradition protests: Hong Kong - Jane Richards

    43. The Maldives: Republic of Maldives, Indian Ocean - Emiline Smith and Oliver Smith

    44. Death Road: La Paz to Coroico, Bolivia - Joe Garrihy

    45. Vulture brains and muthi markets: Johannesburg, South Africa - Angus Nurse

    46. Dark Tourism, ecocide and alpine ski resorts: the Alps, Europe - Oliver Smith

    47. Boho Zone: Middlesbrough, UK - Emma Winlow

    48. One Hyde Park: London, UK - Rowland Atkinson

    49. Amazon warehouse tours: Rugeley, UK or virtual tour - Adam Lynes

    50. Disney World: Orlando, Florida, USA - Anthony Lloyd

    Conclusion - Adam Lynes, Craig Kelly and James Treadwell

Product details

About the author

Adam Lynes is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Birmingham City University.

Craig Kelly is Lecturer in Criminology at Birmingham City University.

James Treadwell is Professor in Criminology at Staffordshire University.

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