AIRPLANE MODE An Irreverent History of Travel

Deepa Samuel reads crisply and does well with the various languages in this globe-spanning audiobook. Her carefully articulated style makes this history/memoir with travel stories vivid. The author, a Muslim Indian woman now living in Brooklyn, brings a unique point of view to this "irreverent history of travel." As a woman of color, she has experienced what she describes as distinctly inferior treatment as compared to her white-skinned husband. She writes convincingly about travel history and includes previously ignored historical travel from Asia and Africa. Her mini histories of Baedeker, Lonely Planet, and Cook's guides are excellent. Her reflection on carousels, originally war machines in Turkey, is whimsical. She argues we are no longer travelers but, rather, tourists with iPhone cameras. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2024]