Goldstone, Patricia 1951-

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Goldstone, Patricia 1951-

PERSONAL:

Born June 16, 1951, in Los Angeles, CA. Education: Attended Vassar College and Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.

ADDRESSES:

CAREER:

Journalist, playwright, and writer. Has been a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and written for the Washington Post, Maclean's, and the Economist Intelligence Unit.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Maguire Fellowship for study in western Europe; National Endowment for the Arts Playwriting Fellowship; Charles MacArthur Prize for best comedy, Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference. Recipient of a grant from the Artists Foundation.

WRITINGS:

Making the World Safe for Tourism, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 2001.

Aaronsohn's Maps: The Untold Story of the Man Who Might Have Created Peace in the Middle East, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2007.

Also author of the plays The Regiment, Divine Comedy, Charlie's Wedding Day, Wars of Attrition, The Circus Animals' Desertion, The Sunday Shoe, and Anne in the Camps; author of screenplay Golden Time.

SIDELIGHTS:

Patricia Goldstone is a journalist and playwright who has also written books about both tourism and the Middle East. In Making the World Safe for Tourism, the author closely examines the commonly held view that tourism is a primary way to ensure a country's economic development. Looking at the social and political impacts of tourism, the author examines the impact of tourism on a variety of cultures, from Ireland to Turkey and Cuba. She explores how the tourism industry has courted leaders and governments, as well as institutions such as the World Bank and American Express, as it has developed as a standard growth policy supported by many governments. In addition, she includes case studies showing how tourism has affected local people and presents her belief that, in many cases, tourism has led toward greater social repression. Furthermore, the author argues that the promotion of tourism to help develop countries that are struggling economically leads to a type of universal monoculture and neocolonialism. Another problem the author points to is the shifting of populations from rural to urban areas, where they often experience numerous difficulties, including poverty and drug abuse. Noting "the importance of the issues treated here," Business History contributor John K. Walton added: "Historians would do well to pay heed to them, and to seek enhanced understanding by pursuing these themes to their roots."

In her book Aaronsohn's Maps: The Untold Story of the Man Who Might Have Created Peace in the Middle East, Goldstone relates the story of Jewish agronomist, botanist, and Zionist politician Aaron Aaronsohn to the troubles in the modern-day Middle East. Aaronsohn, who also worked as a spy for Great Britain during World War I, was born to Jewish settlers in Palestine and was known for such achievements as discovering wild emmer, which may have been the forerunner of wheat, and for developing the first detailed water maps for some areas of the Middle East. In Goldstone's account, Aaronsohn, who was one of the planners for Palestine's national borders, is portrayed as a man whose insistence on a partnership between Jews and Arabs might have led to a more peaceful Middle East. The author points specifically to Aaronsohn's water maps of the region, noting that they may have led to a more peaceful region if they had been used to form the boundaries with Syria and Lebanon and the water resources they contained had been developed to benefit all three neighbors. Aaronsohn's sister, Sarah, was also a spy and was captured by Arabs and put to death. Aaronsohn himself died in a mysterious plane crash before he could see his plans through. A Kirkus Reviews contributor referred to the biography as a "spry scholarly detective story" and added later in the review that the author "honors both Aaronsohns."