Reading Between the Lines

Travel and Tourism Narratives of the Empire State

This series illuminates the varied purposes and meanings of travel from New York's Dutch Colonial period to the modern day, using travel as a means to explore the state's geographical diversity. Each session centers on a book selected by Gregory Young, a graduate student at the State University at Buffalo.

	The series begins with the early 19th century stories of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow & Other Tales by Washington Irving, a native New Yorker.
	This session discusses Carol Sherrif's The Artifical River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817-1862,which examines the impact of the Erie Canal on the lives of ordinary people.
	The Second Greatest Disappointment: Honeymooning and Tourism at Niagara Falls by Karen Dubinsky looks at the cultural significance of the Falls, both for its visitors and in our collective imagination.
	The series concludes with Graham Russell Gao Hodges' Taxi!: A Social History of the New York City Cabdriver, exploring the development of the city through this iconic profession.