Travel as a Political Act by Rick Steves

★★★½

I've always enjoyed catching Rick Steves on PBS (he has an endearing kind of dorkiness), but it wasn't until the last election, when he campaigned to legalize marijuana, that I realized he was a vocal, respectful political activist. I "liked" his Facebook page, and now I am even more of a fan, not just of his travel shows, but of the man himself.

This book is not actually about making political statements with your travel destinations (as the title might suggest), but rather, it's about engaging in thoughtful travel that challenges your pre-conceptions and helps to shape your world view. The book urges readers to "travel more purposefully." (p. ix)

I think it's worth mentioning that this book is surprisingly heavy for a paperback. It has thick glossy pages filled with full color photos on almost every page. As with any travel book, the photos provide added understanding to the text.

As much as I enjoyed the book, I actually had several false starts; I kept putting this book down, only to pick it up days later, then having to re-read earlier pages because I forgot the context of what I had been reading. Once I got into it, though, it was an easily accessible lesson on weighty topics such as globalization, the lasting effects of colonialism, and Liberation Theology. It doesn't touch on every major political issue, but does seem to provide sufficient context and content to the select issues that were addressed.

In highlighting the history and politics of different regions, I very much appreciated Rick Steves's honesty in acknowledging his own inconsistencies. For example, he writes on page 104, "I've seen how religion injects passion into local politics...and I've developed a healthy respect for the importance of separation of religion and state. And yet, when a politicized Church...fights for economic justice, I find myself rooting for the politicization of religion."

Basically, most chapters are devoted to a certain region of the world, and Rick Steves writes about his own personal travel experiences, about differences and similarities between that region and the United States - specifically, how other countries deal with certain political issues including taxes, drugs, and transportation, just to name a few - and about what might we learn from each other. Rick Steves points out that every country's way of addressing issues has its pros and cons, and it's the culture and people of those countries that decide what values - individual wealth? social stability? joie de vivre? - are prioritized above others.

Rick Steves is a self-described liberal, as am I, but still I didn't agree 100% with his opinions. I think he does make a lot of really important observations, and good points, and I wonder how this book might be received by conservatives? I also think his perspective is valuable, and though I can't fault him for not being even more well-traveled, I do wonder what kind of insights and impressions he would have traveling to Africa and Asia.

I learned a lot from this book, and it gave me lots to think about.