Michael Moynihan on the political contradictions of travel guidebooks

"There is an almost Orientalist presumption [on the part of travel guidebooks] that the citizens of places like Cuba or Afghanistan have made a choice in rejecting globalization and consumerism. From the perspective of the disaffected Westerner, poverty is seen as enviable, a pure existence unsullied by capitalism. [ Lonely Planet: Cuba co-author Brendan] Sainsbury...