Atlas of Dark Destinations: Explore the world of dark tourism

Found this book absolutely fascinating for dipping in and out. It really shows how much looking from a different perspective canilluminate travels - moving away from the crowds and towards a another view. It's the joy of travel - which in a way is a strange thing to say about an avowedly 'dark' subject matter.But these events are bound up in the culture and the preent moment of a destination and exploring will help you bring your travel alive and deepend your connection with a destination. In the meantime, while at home yoiu can explore the world through this fantastic and deeply researched book.

The Atlas of Dark Destinations is a voluminous and concise labour of love from Dr Peter Hohenhaus. He is one of the world's most seasoned travellers, whose passion for dark and obscure histories has taken him to some of the most secretive, unpalatable and remote parts of our planet in search for evidence of humanity's darkest chapters..The resulting Atlas is an essential compendium, the definitive showcase of the most important dark history sites on Earth. Accompanied by great photos and relevant country briefs, it is perhaps the most ambitious and up-to-date guide on the subject of Dark Tourism..I would recommend this book to everyone whose travel needs aren't just about leisure anymore. It is a window to an unusual yet fascinating world, and maybe the starting point of many new adventures !!

Picking up this book, I immediately found that I had indeed visited already quite a few of the sites described in this book.Only now do I understand I always was a dark tourist…….🙄In my case I have always been interested in history and the understanding of why or how was this allowed happen?I’ve already got some more ideas of places to visit from this book, really different and interesting to read.

If you only buy one book on Dark Tourism make sure this is it. An A-Z of Dark Tourism locations throughout the world and the history/myths/tragedy behind them. The book has been thoroughly researched and is presented as an informative introduction to the more popular Dark Tourism sites and the interest in visiting them.

A gift for my husband who shows interest in unusual destinations. He’s thoroughly enjoying reading it and looking forward to visiting some of the places

My initial feeling that the sombre subject matter might make the book turgid was soon dispelled by Dr. Hohenhaus’ rich encyclopaedia brimming with pictures accompanied by easily readable text.I searched for three ‘dark destinations’ that I have visited personally and couldn’t find them. They were the German Military Cemetery, Cannock Chase, England; the German museum holding the car in which Franz Ferdinand was assassinated; and the underground site at Eperleques, Northern France from which the German rockets were trained on Great Britain in the Second World War.It then occurred to me that the Atlas of Dark Destinations does, by definition encompass a never ending subject matter which will include other dark places in subsequent editions.Dr. Hohenhaus’ wide ranging scholarship shines through from this impressive tome.

This book is a must for anyone interested in dark tourism, or even just curious about it – in fact for anyone with an interest in the world. This wide-ranging book manages to achieve the near-impossible: it covers 300 destinations from all across the globe and from a mind-boggling variety of location types (what do a volcano, a nuclear power plant and the wreck of a boat have in common?), and yet it leaves the reader in no doubt as to how they are linked under the common yet broad theme of dark tourism. Each destination comes with a concise yet highly informative description and excellent photos. And should your interest be piqued, you can find more in-depth information on each destination (and many more) on the author’s comprehensive website. This book is worth every penny!

The books includes some nice locations, but is nothing that couldn't be found within a few minutes on a search engine. Many of the locations are widely known are not exactly 'dark tourism' or off the standard tourist trails. A few are certainly of interest and the author has some good supporting information to contextualise the locations in history, but personally I would not consider this to be an in-depth exploration; more a first step into less frequented tourist routes.

This book is 3 times more expensive brand new at the book store. And I received this with minimal usage... no tips, no markings, just used. That's all. So worth the money

Great coffee table book

In his introduction, the author suggests that this book is aimed for both “active and armchair” travellers. And after spending some time with this pretty hefty volume, I’d say that’s perhaps it’s greatest value. This is not the sort of book you read cover to cover. Well I didn’t, anyway. Instead, I’d pick it up here and there throughout the day, reading the odd page about Indonesia, or Azerbaijan, or Rwanda, in between doing other things. It is immensely digestible, and lends itself very well to little dips like this. Each time, I’d finish my page, and come away feeling like I’d learned something new.On the other hand, the book also works quite well as a guide for planning trips around. I’m now about to leave for a multi-country trip myself, so I skimmed through the index and came away with four new places I’m adding to my itinerary. Of course, this book isn’t exhaustive and doesn’t feature every dark destination in the world! (though the author’s website must be getting close by now…) but it’s a very useful guide to have to hand, when it comes to the larger must-see dark tourism sites in any given country.I also enjoyed the author’s general approach to the subject, and the recognition that some dark sites are darker than others. The inclusion of a ‘dark rating’ with each listing is an effective way to mark the significant difference between, say, a concentration camp museum and a volcano crater. The introduction is thoughtful on this matter, and I think it sets the tone well for the pages to come.So all in all, I’m giving it 5 stars. An excellent book, both interesting and useful, plus very well put together too – good layout, a logical format, pleasing images and some nice design choices. I can imagine I’ll spend a lot more time with this book in future, and I heartily recommend it to anyone with an interest in the subject.

Interesting read, but a fair number of places left out that should have been included.. some of the commentary is a bit biased.but as a travel planning guide very helpful

I was really looking forward to getting this book and it did not disappoint. Peter Hohenhaus has done a great job of balancing all of the important and interesting places to visit. While I would love to see more details on certain places, if he did that for all of them this would be a multi-volume work (which I would love as well). I have been a frequent visitor to his website over the years, but it's nice to have all the information in a book where flipping through the maps and pictures makes it easier to learn about places you may have missed from the site. If you are interested in humanity's (dark) history, and are drawn to visiting the sites associated with them, I highly recommend this book.