Martha K. Norkunas – författare

This book examines American public culture and the means by which communities in the U.S. reconstruct the past and reinterpret the present in the development of tourism. Norkunas shows how public culture is not confined to just museums or monuments, but can be constructed on many different levels and in different settings, such as community ethnicity, natural setting (environment), literary landscape, and history. In her case study of Monterey, the author explores the particular ideologies that prompt the community to represent itself in tourism, and that also act to legitimate the current social structure.

The essays in this volume focus on the role of women in the work force. They explore how organized sports, social associations of all kinds and the educational system faced by the children of worker were profoundly linked to work place and community activism. They examine why radical labor organizations that could win major strikes often could not sustain themselves as permanent institutions. Finally, the essays argue that simultaneous leadership changes in management and labor in the auto industry were less the result of internal conflicts than needed structural adjustments to changing economic and political realities. Interwoven into all of the essays is the intricate dynamic between immigrant and native-born, between different immigrant waves and the groups, and between workers at different skill levels. Work,Recreation, and Culture enriches and expands the established labor narratives.