The artful use of one's free time was a discipline perfected by the
French in the nineteenth century. Casinos, alpine hiking, hotel dinners,
romantic gardens, and lavish parks were all part of France's growing
desire for the ideal vacation. Perhaps the most intriguing vacation,
however, was the ever popular health resort, and this is the main topic
of Douglas Mackaman's fascinating study.
Taking us into the vibrant social world of France's great spas, Mackaman
explores the links between class identity and vacationing. Mackaman
shows how, after 1800, physicians and entrepreneurs zealously tried to
break their milieu's strong association with aristocratic excess and
indecency by promoting spas as a rational, ordered equivalent to the
busy lives of the bourgeoisie. Rather than seeing leisure time as
slothful, Mackaman argues, the bourgeoisie willingly became patients at
spas and viewed this therapeutic vacation as a sensible, even
productive, way of spending time. Mackaman analyzes this transformation,
and ultimately shows how the premier vacation of an era made and was
made by the bourgeoisie.