1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910798849303321

Autore

Maher Daniel R.

Titolo

Mythic frontiers : remembering, forgetting, and profiting with cultural heritage tourism / / Daniel R. Maher ; foreword by Paul A. Shackel

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Gainesville, Florida : , : University Press of Florida, , 2016

©2016

ISBN

0-8130-5118-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (313 pages) : illustrations, photographs

Collana

Cultural Heritage Studies

Disciplina

976.736

Soggetti

Heritage tourism - Arkansas - Fort Smith

Culture and tourism - Arkansas - Fort Smith

Tourism - Arkansas - Fort Smith

Fort Smith (Ark.) Historiography

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Previously issued in print: 2016.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

The significance of the frontier complex in American history -- The frontier complex in Fort Smith, Arkansas -- The peacekeeper's violence -- The hanging judge's injustices -- The invincible marshal's oppression -- The hello bordello and brave men matrix -- Performing "Frontier in the attic" -- Doubling down on the wager of frontier tourism.

Sommario/riassunto

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.