Blue-green surf, pillowy white sand, and a warm salty breeze--when it comes to restoring body and soul, no place in the world can compete with the beach. Nature's most potent antidepressant, the seashore is today--but wasn't always--everyone's favorite getaway spot. With an entertaining historical account as its narrative framework, this elegantly designed volume charts the evolution of the seaside from a wasteland at the margins of civilization--remote, terror filled, and exotic--to its present role as the central staging ground for diversions of all sorts: escape, re-creation, and congregation. A marvelous selection of images evokes the beach's hypnotic appeal--everything from impressionist paintings and fascinating lithographs to archival photographs and quirky advertising art--as the text explores the histories of sexuality, fashion, and sport; the rise of great resorts from Coney Island to Cap d'Antibes; and the evolution of leisure itself. Also included is an appendix of the world's most beautiful, luxurious, and unspoiled beaches. The Beach will be a pleasure to any reader who loves to settle down on the sand with a great--and fascinating--book.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
In The Beach: The History of Paradise on Earth, Lena Lencek and Gideon Bosker chart the history of beaches from the time of their formation to the present, examining the shifting significance of beaches to Western cultures through the centuries. Lencek and Bosker are capable historians whose love of beaches shines through in their writing. They assert that the way people approach the beach reflects their culture's current beliefs about sexuality, class divisions, aesthetics, and leisure. At times, the authors go a bit overboard in proving how important beaches are to society, but it is easy to forgive them because this book is crammed with interesting tidbits and choice sentences, such as, "The sands of Oregon's Florence Beach squeak with the high-pitched bark of distant chihuahuas." Great old movie posters, photographs, and odd tourist brochures are sprinkled throughout the book, enlivening the text.
After a chapter on the geological makeup of sand and beaches, the authors chronicle the waxing and waning popularity of beaches through the ages. It seems that people did not always think of the beach as a good place to kick back, get a tan, and leaf through a book with lots of pictures. During the Middle Ages, many Europeans avoided the ocean in part because they believed water was connected to the horrible plagues that occasionally devastated the region. Later, an entrepreneur convinced the British upper class that drinking saltwater was a good way to cure "windiness of the spirit" and other ailments. Gradually, the rich figured out that the beach is not only healthful, it's fun! Technological innovations made it easier to get to the beach, and so more people of all classes went there. Swimsuit styles changed as textiles, sexual mores, and ideals of beauty evolved. This book should appeal to many readers because it is packed with good tidbits to ponder between naps on the beach, things such as the origins of suntan lotion, the development of the Australian crawl, and the singing dunes of Kauai, Hawaii. --Jill Marquis
From Publishers Weekly
Lencek and Bosker (Making Waves) have turned out a thorough but often leaden chronicle of what "the beach" has meant to humankind from Roman nobles to WWII assault troops to modern eco-tourists. Their scholarly approach seems tedious in service of a normally lively subject. Details noting coastal zoning laws enacted by the ancient Greeks and England's priggish turn-of-the-century approach to public bathing are interesting, but the story gathers momentum only in contemporary days. Accounts of America's iconographical retreats are noteworthyAConey Island, Miami Beach, Southern California, HawaiiAare covered, as is the evolution of swimwear: "The swimsuit on the beach tells the square-inch-by-square-inch history of how skin went public in modern times." But the authors become highhanded, bemoaning the fallen status of the modern beach vacation; ecotourists are part of a "highly contrived ritual," while luxury travelers are "entirely divorced from nature." Still, the authors see fit to include such resorts as Cancun's Ritz-Carlton in their appendix of recommended beach stays. Waves, sand, bikini babes, surfer boys, sun-worshipping hedonistsAthere is enough material here for a bit of fun in "the history of paradise on Earth," but this treatment turns out to be disappointingly dry. Illustrated.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good 'beach book' on the beach,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Beach: The History of Paradise on Earth (Hardcover)
Lencek and Bosker describe themselves as specialists in popular culture and that they are. Their book on the history of the beach should be properly be described as history lite. The central theme of the work is what people have and are doing on it and in it, what do they wear to the beach and not wear to it, etc. In short this is a social history of the beach with only passing references to its many other aspects such as geology, economics, politics, history, ecology, etc. The book also looks at the beach at length only in the U.S., the U.K. and on the northern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. The social history of the beach in the rest of the world, were in fact most beaches are located, is never discussed other than in passing. For those going to the beach with time to spend reading this is a fine book. For those looking for serious history you may wish to look elsewere.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best history of the evolution of beach vacations!,
By Mandy Schmitt (Atlanta, Ga) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Beach: The History of Paradise on Earth (Paperback)
I finally found a book that takes the reader through the history of society's love for the beach! It is a wonderfully light and easy read that reveals tons of interesting information about beach going. As a sand dune ecologist, I was very impressed with the representation of the present problems facing beach development. The historical trace enables the reader to understand why we keep pouring money into a disappearing shoreline!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
First Do Your Homework,
By
This review is from: The Beach: The History of Paradise on Earth (Paperback)
The authors love their work! That is, they love the beach. They want to cover the topic completely so they start at the beginning, at the birth of the oceans. Their scenario for the formation of the world ocean is that the water originated in the planet's interior. I think that today's idea is that the water is mostly extra-terrestrial, and came with comets etc. Once the surface cooled below 374K, liquid water precipitated out and accumulated.
They speculate on early man's being dazzled and terrified by the beach, yet in the next paragraph they have men venturing out to sea for various reasons. Evidently they were able to bypass the beach in this enterprise. They have the odd idea that it is warm at the equator because "...the earth lies closer to the sun..." The biggest howler is their discussion of meteorology and the Atacama Desert in Chile. I am a meteorologist. I happen to have spent four months in Coquimbo on a field project, and I can tell you that their ideas on why this desert exists next to the ocean are nonsense. The facts are simple -- the air is descending here. It is part of the descending branch of a Hadley Cell which is a semi-permanent planetary-scale circulation feature. Descending air compresses, warms and dries. This occurs above the surface-based mixed layer or marine layer. The shallow mixed layer easily saturates over the ocean and forms extensive stratus clouds or fog, just like it does off California. This cool stable air comes ashore, warms and mixes out; the fog/stratus dissipates yielding sunny skies. There are places where it has not rained in a thousand years, it is so stable. When I got this far, I quit. What I wanted was a discussion of the geophysical features of beaches, something to go along with Waves and Beaches, and maybe some cultural considerations. Read this if you want a completely subjective personal reminiscence. Otherwise, forget it. Too bad.
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