The Second Greatest Disappointment: Honeymooning and Tourism at Niagara Falls by Karen Dubinsky (review)

Book Reviews 405 nineteenth-century Quebec textile industry makes interesting use ofnew perspectives on adolescence, kinship, and family. Ruth Compton Brouwer shows she is aware of how complicated an understanding of the exercise of, and the resistance to, cultural power can be; she approaches the issues involved in the conflict between Canadian medical missionary Florence Murray and Korean educator Helen Kim with an acute appreciation of the measure in which those issues need illumination by more than a simple combination ofpostcolonial and feminist perspectives. The volume's quality peaks - for this reader, at least - in several essays relating to Cook's longstanding concern with civil liberties, nationalism, and Canadian unity and maintenance. Michiel Horn's compact treatment of academic freedom in Canada speaks succintly to the first; Marcel Martel's examination of Quebec nationalism's disdain for French-speaking minorities outside Quebec skilfully counterpoints the second; and Phyllis M. Senese's treatment of civic nationalism effectively glosses the third; it is, she says, no different in essence from nationalism tout court. With Patrick Dutil's sharply observed reprise of Cook's career during the 1960s, his most active phase as a public intellectual, readers get a memorable recounting of a time when solutions to problems seemed no less clear and exiguous than the difficulties they were meant to dispatch. Challenging, well-argued, attractively presented, the essays in this book at once do credit to Cook and advance discussion of the several themes and areas with which he has been so actively engaged. They deserve - and will certainly get - attention on both counts. ALLAN SMITH University ofBritish Columbia The Second Greatest Disappointment: Honeymooning and Tourism at Niagara Falls. KAREN DUBINSKY. Toronto: Between the Lines 1999· Pp. 290, illus. $29.95 This study is based on the assumption that 'places are more than simply locations.' By asking herself why Niagara Falls has been a honeymoon destination since the nineteenth century, Dubinsky engages in a multilayered analysis focusing on the history of Niagara Falls as a tourist destination and the history of honeymooning in Canada in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Niagara Falls case study also allows her to 'observe the development of and changes in heterosexual identities ,' reminding readers that heterosexuality is not 'an unchanging norm' and that heterosexuals 'have a sexual history.' Her findings and analysis contribute significantly in these various areas of inquiry. Thus, 406 The Canadian Historical Review she makes the interesting point that Niagara Falls became a honeymoon destination before the tourist industry started to promote it explicitly as such. In addition to the fact that Niagara Falls was close to densely populated areas and consecrated early on as an elite destination, Dubinsky suggests other factors that account for its popularity as the ideal honeymoon location, including the way people 'imagined' Niagara Falls. She effectively demonstrates that the meanings and values the public projected onto the falls made them attractive to honeymooners. The waterfall was early identified as female by visitors, including writers and artists, which intensified its 'magnetic sexual lure. '·It was also associated with danger, which 'helped create a romantic, sexual and frightening image of Niagara Falls,' a 'place offorbidden pleasure.' Dubinsky also documents the role played by tourist industry personnel in the promotion ofthe area over the years. As she charts the evolving priorities, conflicts, and allegiances among the players in the tourist trade, she uncovers an often neglected area ofinquiry in tourism history. She avoids· presenting the players as members of monolithic groups, imposing their agendas on passive visitors. She also reveals a sophisticated understanding ofsocial developments and interactions over a long period oftime. We see the tensions that emerge between visitors and the tourist industry: in addition to strains linked to a fear ofbeing cheated, Dubinsky uncovers deeper racial and class-based hostilities that coloured visitors' reactions to the Niagara Falls experience. She is attentive to the impact of the larger context, both Canadian and American, on the tourism industry at Niagara Falls, most notably the changes brought on by the two world wars. The reader, aware ofthese exterior developments, is better able to appreciate what is distinctive to tourism at Niagara Falls and how the site fits into the larger picture...