This study treats ecotourism in National Protected Areas of Lao PDR as a “recreational frontier” which instrumentalizes the recreation of human natures in capitalism’s centers for that of nonhuman natures at capitalism’s (closing) frontiers. This world-ecological practice of ecorational instrumentality – i.e. of nature domination in the name of “Nature” – presents a remedy for capitalism’s crisis that is itself crisis-ridden, enacting a central tension of ecocapitalism: that between “conservation” and “development”. This epistemic-institutional tension is traced through the preconditions, modes and effects of ecotourism in Laos by gradually zooming from the most general scale of societal nature relations into the most detailed intricacies of ecotouristic practice. The combination of Bourdieu, Marx and Critical Theory enables a systematic analysis of the recreational frontier as enactment of various contradictions deriving from the “false-and-real” Nature/Society dualism.

Tracing the history of Southern California from the late 19th century through the late 20th century, this book reveals how this region did much more than just create lavish resorts like Santa Catalina Island and Palm Springs - it literally remade American attitudes towards leisure.

Originally published in 1972, this book discusses changing attitudes to work and leisure and patterns of leisure activity, asking if recreation, as an economic activity, a distinctive spatial expression. It examines characteristics of spa towns and coastal resorts in the nineteenth century as well as provision of leisure amenities in urban and rural areas of contemporary Britain and the changing levels of demand for and supply of recreation in North America.

“Maher explores the development of the Frontier Complex as he deconstructs the frontier myth in the context of manifest destiny, American exceptionalism, and white male privilege. A very significant contribution to our understanding of how and why heritage sites reinforce privilege.”— Frederick H. Smith, author of The Archaeology of Alcohol and Drinking “Peels back the layer of dime westerns and True Grit films to show how their mythologies are made material. You’ll never experience a ‘heritage site’ the same way again.”—Christine Bold, author of The Frontier Club: Popular Westerns and Cultural Power, 1880–1924 The history of the Wild West has long been fictionalized in novels, films, and television shows. Catering to these popular representations, towns across America have created tourist sites connecting such tales with historical monuments. Yet these attractions stray from known histories in favor of the embellished past visitors expect to see and serve to craft a cultural memory that reinforces contemporary ideologies. In Mythic Frontiers, Daniel Maher illustrates how aggrandized versions of the past, especially those of the “American frontier,” have been used to turn a profit. These imagined historical sites have effectively silenced the violent, oppressive, colonizing forces of manifest destiny and elevated principal architects of it to mythic heights. Examining the frontier complex in Fort Smith, Arkansas—where visitors are greeted at a restored brothel and the reconstructed courtroom and gallows of “Hanging Judge” Isaac Parker feature prominently—Maher warns that creating a popular tourist narrative and disconnecting cultural heritage tourism from history minimizes the devastating consequences of imperialism, racism, and sexism and relegitimizes the privilege bestowed upon white men.

Focussing on the greening of imperialisms and empires, Empires of Sustainability analyses the shift around the world from denial of the environmental crisis to action to prevent catastrophe, and the resulting implications. Evidence of this shift is clear in widespread and purposeful social change which is gathering momentum. The book explains how globalisation accelerated us towards the crisis, and today, even as its own legitimacy is being questioned, is evolving through solutions and responses to it. Looking ahead and as the environmental crisis worsens, two possible futures are discerned and explored. One is that through universal actions to save the planet, shaped by interweaving political and economic forces, the hegemony of globalisation is restored, albeit in a green form. The other is that the world reorganises into competing spheres of influence, with politics, economics and the environment interwoven differently in each case. In these ways, we face the prospect of one or more Empires of Sustainability emerging over the decades ahead, unless we build a better alternative society. The author presents an alternative: a more diverse World of Caring Places. This accessible book will appeal to students and scholars of international political economy, sustainability and environmental studies, and analysts, policy makers, campaigners and others concerned about the future of relations between people and planet.