Michael Moynihan on the Politics of Travel Guides

"Travel guide writers are obsessed with authenticity," says Reason Contibuting Editor Michael C. Moynihan. "You'll find people who say 'isn't it adorable when you go to Havana that they have all these Packards from the 1950s?' Well, no it's not. This is a pretty grim assessment of the economics of Cuba."

In a recent piece in Foreign Policy, Moynihan dissects several popular travel guides and finds "the guidebooks are clotted with historical revisionism, factual errors, and a toxic combination of Orientalism and pathological self-loathing." 

Moynihan sat down with Reason TV's Kennedy to discuss his article, the political and cultural biases in travel guides, and why the burqa should not be considered "a tool for social mobility" as Lonely Planet's guide to Afghanistan suggests.

About 3.30 minutes.

Produced by Anthony L. Fisher, Camera by Jim Epstein and Fisher.

Scroll down for downloadable versions and subscribe to ReasonTV's YouTube Channel to receive notifications when new material goes live.