Know Before You Go

Do you remember those dark days when well-read travelers were forced to learn about their future destinations from brisk summaries in the backs of geography books and ominous-looking brochures that appeared in the mail? Be prepared to forget.

On September 24, the Travel Magazine section of the New York Times ran an article on how to spend 24 hours in the “real” Los Angeles. The piece aimed to point naive out-of-towners towards the best of old Hollywood as well as some of the newer locales favored by celebrities. It also gave a suggested reading list for those wanting to freshen up on their LA history. Among such classics as You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again and City of Quartz, UC Press’s new title Pop LA: Art and the City in the 1960s was listed at number two.

Two more recently released UC Press titles join Pop LA in seeking to educate travelers beyond ordinary guidebooks. Designed for the international art tourist, Destination Art is the first comprehensive look at more than two hundred major modern and contemporary art sites around the world. In addition to listing practical information, such as directions to the sites and admission fees, this lushly illustrated book includes essays exploring fifty key destinations in depth.

Those more history-inclined travelers who are heading to Rome might want to grab the upcoming Rome and Environs: An Archaelogical Guide, which brings the masterful native scholarship of Filippo Coarelli to an English-language audience for the first time, complete with plenty of maps.

Being an educated tourist will never be the same.