Counter-Tourism: The Handbook by Crab Man (Phil Smith)
A handbook for those who want more from heritage sites than a tea shoppe and an old thing in a glass case.

In Counter-Tourism: The Handbook Phil Smith encourages us to see the world in a new way, to re-view the familiar through our own mischief, to play with established sites, to usurp the rules set by the heritage industry and question the geographic and historic hegemony. He enables us to recognise that history and our expectations of landscape are a construct and that we would have much more fun if we fabricated our own. Above all Smith encourages us to play again, to rip up our guidebooks and write a new narrative over the landscape. He encourages us to slip into liminal spaces, explore boundaries, discover that the most interesting places are often the least visited. In his dérives he has uncovered ways of enjoying the world anew.
 
The Handbook is a book for anyone interested in getting under the skin of the heritage sites they visit. It's of particular interest to the heritage and tourism industry itself, anyone troubled by official guides to anywhere, site-specific artists and performers.
 
Published by Triarchy Press
Paperback
228 pages
 
£13.50 (with free UK P&P)
 
See also Phil Smith's Counter Tourism: A Pocketbook