I never really thought about the history of beach resorts and the culture surrounding them. However, once I started reading this book (on a mountain vacation of all things), I could not stop thinking about it. The information presented here is fascinating and well worth this book. I could not stop sharing what I learned with my wife. I truly enjoyed this book. Thank you!

For most of my life, whenever I felt overwhelmed or stressed, I imagined a serene beach. We hold this collective idea of beaches as places of respite, as a break from reality. The concept of beaches as paradisic is incredibly recent in history though, and in fact, many cultures have feared oceans and seas throughout the centuries. How does beach tourism affect the locals of seaside cities, who deal with tourism all throughout the year? Is the beach an escape for them too, or is it a burden?
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The Last Resort is split up by beach towns, and as we travel the world with Sarah Stodola, we see how tourism has developed differently in each locale. I love that she ends the book with solutions - how governments, hotels, and travellers can be the most sustainable in their practices.
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I hope that if/when you plan your next beach getaway, you think about who you are supporting. Is it big corporations or local folks? Are you integrating yourself into your surroundings, or sitting in an environment of people just like you?
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Thank you for the arc NetGalley! Had to jump on this new release, I love learning about sustainable tourism!

Ever wanted to read a book on beach resorts written by a pretentious Brooklynite who hates the beach? Well this is the book for you!. Between complaining about every resort she visits down to the Tofu and Tomato salad in Fiji, to reminiscing about getting drunk with Germans in Thailand as her idea of Paradise, Ms Stodota quickly becomes "Beach Resort Karen" who never takes time to actually speak to those working in the resorts she demonizes. She sees any hotel near a beach as some evil that should never exist while fully admitting that everyone's idea of "paradise" will never live up to anyone's expectations. This is a travelogue/critique of not only the resort regions of the world but an indictment of everyone who would even think to make money near a beach or travel to a beach for a vacation. You will feel her wrath of even thinking that a beach resort could be an enjoyable time. Skip this unless you want to do some "hate reading" as a form a penance for the sin of wanting to visit a beach and relax. I think Ms Stodota should stick to her personal paradise that is Brooklyn and continue to quote Joan Didion and sneer at the rest of the sheep who wont sleep in a hut instead of a Hilton.

This book is absolutely perfect for fans of The White Lotus! Its a very saucy piece of Nonfiction, a second round purchase for most libraries

Do you love the beach and look forward to your annual summer pilgrimages? Curiously, our ancestors did not! The Last Resort reports on the history of beach worship and tourism development throughout the world. It's incredibly interesting to see the history of each area, the impact tourism has had on the nation as a whole and the indigenous people and environment in the developed areas. Sarah Stodola is a travel writer and she includes her own experiences in each of the areas covered. The book reads almost like a story and is very enjoyable but will surely change your view of the beach. Are you a beach lover or armchair traveler? Do you want to learn more about the history of beach worshiping? This book is for you!
#Netgalley #Netgalleyreads #TheLastResort #SarahStodola

This book is the kind of book that keeps you thinking long after you closed the pages. I am, like many others, obsessed with the idea of the beach as a relaxing place. The author breaks down the history of how we came to view the beach that way. Fascinating! Then she also teaches us why and how beach vacations and resorts are unsustainable in our current climate. Without drastic change, the beaches as we have come to them, are in danger of disappearing. As I start planning a beach vacation for the future, I will be keeping this book in mind and thinking how my actions and money can support/save beaches. Full of lots of facts and history--kind of a niche book--definitely geared towards beach lovers, but I enjoyed this!

Like the author of this book, I don't really like the beach. However, I was very interested in this book because I do love to travel and I am always interested in learning the history of popular travel destinations of current times, as well as the past. I have also been to some of the places that Stodola highlights in this book and was interested in learning more of the narrative around them specifically. The book did not disappoint my expectations and really takes the reader on a trip around the most luxuriously beach resort destinations around the world, while providing a balanced view of these destinations that provides details that the majority of travelers do not consider when visiting. I also enjoyed the two chapters at the end that gave ideas for reducing climate impact at these destinations and what these destinations could look like in the future due to climate change. I felt like this could have been weaved more throughout the other chapters, rather than saving it until the end though. Regardless, this is an interesting book that I would definitely recommend, particularly to travelers.

I really tried on this one, but it was just not for me. I think the fact that the author was in this middle-ground between objective journalist and vapid vacationer made it hard to tonally know what was what.

This book did a great job of detailing travel
Overall I would recommend this book to friends
Thank you NetGalley for arc !

An outstandingly informative and fun look at the history of the beach resort.

Sarah Stodola, a career travel writer, takes a deep dive into the good, the bad, and the ugly of beach resorts around the world, ranging from the evolution of resorts through time to the cultural significance of this type of vacation destination.

If you travel, you’ll likely have been to some of the destinations discussed in the book, and you’ll learn about a few you haven’t visited as well. Stodola does a terrific job of taking a wide-angle look at the topic, studying everything from cheap spring break destinations to highly exclusive vacation spots.

Part history lesson and part cultural and environmental study, the book examines the impacts of resorts in the traveler, the native population of the destination, and the location itself. It’s a wonderfully done contextual history that treks across time and geography to examine why resorts came into being, what makes them appeal to the traveler at various points in time, and what their future might look like in the years to come.

I love the cover - it would make me pick this book up if I saw it displayed anywhere.
Sarah Stodola has done extensive research on each beach location regarding the history and general vibe of the place, but primarily tells the reader all the negative issues, as if she was staying at these beautiful places against her will. She states at the beginning of the book that neither she or any family member has ever had the slightest desire for this type of vacation, so why not pick someone who loves the beach to write about it?
I guess this is more of a historical account than a travel guide.
I wholeheartedly agree with the author about over developing & global warming, but her writing sounds very one-sided. I absolutely love everything about beach life and am fortunate enough to be able to retire in a warm, sunny climate, close to the water and I was looking forward to reading about the history of the various places and what can be done to keep the beaches sustainable, but I found it disappointingly negative.

The Last Resort is a fascinating, well-researched, in-depth look at the past, present, and future of beach tourism and beach resorts across the globe. The author balances academic research with her own travel experiences. The last two chapters tie the entire book together nicely and offer lots of thought-provoking ideas and conversation topics. For me, in addition to the last two chapters, I found the chapters on Fiji and the resort development cycle to be particularly interesting and well-written. I will definitely recommend The Last Resort, especially as a 2022 summer read!

The subtitle of this book "Chronicle of Paradise, Profit and Peril at the Beach" aptly describes what you will feel as you read this well-researched book. The author covers the world's resorts by visiting and or/revisiting places to see what has changed over the years. This is part history, part geography, part science and part travelogue. Because of this I had the experience of living vicariously and picturing myself at some of these resorts in my mind and then also feeling incredibly conflicted because of the collateral damage done to local communities and to shorelines due to all the development. She compellingly gives actions that can be taken to minimize impacts and ensure sustainable solutions for countries and communities. This was a very interesting, enjoyable and thought-provoking read. Thank you to Netgalley and Ecco for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Beautifully researched and written, this book chronicles the history and the future of beach resorts. From the first beach resorts in the world to new and sustainable models of beach hotels, the author visits and discusses them all. (Why didn't the rest of us think to study beach resorts???). She presents a rise and fall of such places, showing how they go from the trendy places for the jet set to hang out, decline as the destination falls out of favor, then eventually close or even decay.

Much of this book focuses on sustainability and environmental issues. As sea levels rise, this is no purely academic discussion. (She'll tell you why Miami floods on a cloudless day.) As humans seek to play in the sun and sand, those high density hotels take their toll on the coast, contributing to the erosion of the very beaches that make the vacation destination so special. A number of potential solutions to these problems are presented. This book would be perfect for college or grad level courses on urban development and land use.

As an owner of beachfront property, I found this book fascinating and insightful. I came away from the book appreciating my low density, sleepy, quiet little corner of Florida and now know how precious and precarious it is. I hope this book helps to keep such places safe for future generations.

While preparing to enjoy spring break at a Caribbean resort, it was timely reading “The Last Resort: A Chronicle of Paradise, Profit, and Peril at the Beach” by Sarah Stodola, an exploration of our (fairly recent) obsession with spending our vacations relaxing at the beach.

Ms. Stodola takes us through a bit of history of mankind’s view of the beach, for most of our existence the shore was a dangerous place, a place to be avoided or at least feared. As with most cultural phenomenon, the British seemed to have started beach vacations, going to their wet and cold beaches for the health benefits of sea air. What the wealthy started, the rest soon followed. Between the American east coast and the French riviera, the idea of beach as a glamorous escape started to take hold. As the feasibility and cost of air travel became available to the masses, the exotic locales of the Pacific islands pulled people to travel even further to pursue relaxation and the allure of foreign cultures.

But at what cost? The environmental impacts (of both travel and the erosion of the shorelines), the destruction of native cultures, the concept of “getting away” while isolating from the everyday life (and people) of these islands: all of this must be considered as we look at travel in the future.

Ms. Stodola does a good job of balancing both the good and bad of resort tourism, although one feels that the current models are unsustainable in the long run. A balanced read at how we got to where we are and what we can do going forward. But to be honest, it didn’t change my travel plans, but it did make me pause and think.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Ecco via NetGalley. Thank you!

This is part history of the beach resort and part appeal to stop the creation of "typical" resorts as we've come to know them. Stodola is a travel writer and writes about her visits to a number of far-flung beaches around the world. Her writing fleshes out what another writer calls the tourist area cycle evolution and how development first benefits the country where resorts begin but then, without thoughtful oversight, can damage the environment and wear out the local population and even the very beaches that first drew travelers. She concludes with a list of ways to improve both existing and future resorts--it won't be easy, but it may well be necessary.
I learned a great deal here and will definitely consider the author's recommendations when planning my next trip.
Recommended

I’m conflicted on how to feel about this book. On one hand, The Last Resort by Sarah Stodola presents a fascinating exploration of beach resort culture, from its origins to the ongoing issues it faces. Just like I would soak up the sun on a beach day, I lapped up Stodola’s presentation and analysis of various cultural histories, the long-standing effects of colonialism and capitalism, and her prescient information on climate change. The book shines when discussing the effects beach resort culture has on climate change and how climate change will affect the future of the beach vacation.

On the other hand, the author presents her strong research and sharp intellectual insights alongside what reads as a disgruntled Tripadvisor review. She complains about weak drinks and cranky hotel staff. She body shames the average beachgoer and criticizes them for eating air-temperature French fries. All told, the reading experience is rather incongruent as the author presents an incisive examination of the macro problems of beach resort culture, while simultaneously jet-setting to luxury beach resorts and offering up a laundry list of micro personal grievances.

That said, there’s a lot of good here. The Fiji chapter is especially strong, if not particularly bleak. Stodola writes about the demise of Fijian culture, and the island’s native flora and fauna, to capitalist resort culture with urgency and compassion. In later chapters, Stodola offers an excellent analysis of the cycle of tourism development, and an enlightening discussion on the dance between new resort development and raising insurance premiums as climate change presents escalating risk.

Even with my criticism of the travelogue parts of the book, I’d still recommend The Last Resort to anyone interested in micro-histories and nonfiction. I also think this would be a wonderful intro text to anyone interested in learning about climate change as it’s happening in the real world.

Now, please excuse me as I prepare for my trip to the Florida Keys next week. The goal is to leave my worries on the mainland, but as I sip on a Rum Runner, I imagine The Last Resort by Sarah Stodola will be on my mind and I’m glad to be leaving for my own beach vacation with this new perspective.

An excellent look at the history of humans and their relationship with the beach as a place of leisure. The author takes us on a historical worldwide tour of the up and coming and the hot beach spots of the past while weaving in history, ecology, tourism philosophies, and how much she (like all of us) enjoys a cocktail while taking in the sun, the waves, and a gentle sea breeze.

Recommended for all travel readers, all micro-history readers, and heck, why not read a book about the beach when you head to the beach!

I've never been a fan of resorts or cruise ships, but love histories! This informative book was really interesting. I enjoyed it from start to finish. It points out the when, where, why, how, and by who, the beach culture and resorts were created- and for who.
The author has seriously done her homework; kudos Sarah Stodola!
Must read for anyone who goes to, or is thinking of going to, a resort.

Who doesn't like a relaxing vacation in a tropical paradise with a cool breeze, drinks and several great books. This was a very interesting perspective on resorts covering so many aspects and facts that you may never have known or thought about.
I really enjoyed the style of the writing and I pictured myself on a hammock or lounge chair experiencing this as i read this book. This was the first time that I've read a comprehensive book on this subject and would highly recommend it.