Chapter 3 - Section IV-VI Summary and Analysis

Section IV begins by continuing the exploration of how "local atmosphere" has been provided in exotic locations. It is the hope of these exotic locations to become places where tourists congregate and thus offer "attractions" for them to consume. He continues by discussing the role of museums as attractions for tourists to visit.

The argument is made that the objects were "liberated" from the homes of the wealthy and famous in order to be available for all to view. However, these objects have now been removed from their context and thus can create a false image of a culture, time period, or artistic movement. Boorstin asserts that, "All tourist attractions share this factitious, pseudo-eventful quality". Boorstin continues that tourist attractions inevitably give a false representation of a country because the attractions themselves have been specially...