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The Last Resort: A Chronicle of Paradise, Profit, and Peril at the Beach Audiobook
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A captivating exploration of beach resort culture—from its roots in fashionable society to its undervalued role in today’s world economy—as the industry approaches a climate reckoning.
With its promise of escape from the strains of everyday life, the beach has a hold on the popular imagination as the ultimate paradise. In The Last Resort, Sarah Stodola dives into the psyche of the beachgoer and gets to the heart of what drives humans to seek out the sand. At the same time, she grapples with the darker realities of resort culture: strangleholds on local economies, reckless construction, erosion of beaches, weighty carbon footprints, and the inevitable overdevelopment and decline that comes with a soaring demand for popular shorelines.
The Last Resort weaves Stodola’s firsthand travel notes with her exacting journalism in an enthralling report on the past, present, and future of coastal travel. She takes us from Monte Carlo, where the pursuit of pleasure first became part of the beach resort experience, to a village in Fiji that was changed irrevocably by the opening of a single resort; from the overdevelopment that stripped Acapulco of its reputation for exclusivity to Miami Beach, where extreme measures are underway to prevent the barrier island from vanishing into the ocean.
In the twenty-first century, beach travel has become central to our globalized world—its culture, economy, and interconnectedness. But with sea levels likely to rise at least 1.5 to 3 feet by the end of this century, beaches will become increasingly difficult to preserve, and many will disappear altogether. What will our last resort be when water begins to fill the lobbies?
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“For a book that’s not a thriller, this could be one of the scariest beach reads imaginable this summer…[Stodola] pulls back the curtain on paradise and reveals some of the shocking truths behind the surf and sand.”
— Town & Country
Quotes
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“[A] gripping account about the dark side of paradise…You’ll never look at an all-inclusive vacation quite the same way.”
— Esquire -
"A work cultural history exploring why we all flock to the beach in the first place.”
— Harper’s Bazaar
Awards
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A New York Times Book Review pick of Best Books Now in Paperback
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An Amazon Editor’s Top Pick in Nonfiction
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A Town & Country Magazine Pick of Must-Read Books of Summer
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An Esquire pick of Summer's Best Books
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A Washington Post Pick of 21 Books to Read This Summer
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A Harper’s Bazaar Pick of Best Beach Reads of the Year
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A Southern Living Magazine Pick for Summer
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A Fortune Magazine Pick of the Month
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About Sarah Stodola
Sarah Stodola has written about travel and culture for the New York Times, Slate, the Wall Street Journal, and the BBC, among others. She is the author of Process: The Writing Lives of Great Authors and founder and editor of Flung, a publication that challenges assumptions about travel.
About Ann Marie Gideon
Ann Marie Gideon, an Earphones Award-winning narrator, is a professional actress based in Atlanta. She received a BFA in theater performance from the University of Memphis and trained at the Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy. Throughout her college career, she gained professional experience by performing at Playhouse on the Square. Soon after, she toured across the country with the National Players and then landed in Atlanta, Georgia, with Georgia Shakespeare. She is now expanding her career into voice-over work, film, and television.