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Newman shows how the cultural tradition of hospitality has encouragedthe growth of Atlanta's convention and tourist industry and contributedto the city's rapid development.Harvey Newman finds that the international attention Atlantaenjoys because of its recent hosting of the Olympics is actually the culminationof a tradition of boosterism that dates back to antebellum times and thecentral place of hospitality within southern culture. Newman's study considershow social forces, historic events, and major entrepreneurs have influencedAtlanta's commercial development. Throughout the city's history, Newmanobserves, the value of southern hospitality has ensured ongoing supportfor efforts to develop hospitality as a commercial enterprise.Newman calls particular attention to how issues of race,gender, ethnicity, and class have affected the development of the Atlantahospitality industry. African Americans traditionally provided much ofthe labor for the industry, first as slaves who cooked, cleaned, carriedbags, and shined shoes at railroad inns and later as workers in the restaurantsand hotels established in the central city. Segregation led African Americansto develop their own commercial areas and business districts. In the earlyyears, women--black and white--found that hospitality was one of the fewindustries in which they were allowed to work: white widows often ran boardinghouses, and black women found work cooking and cleaning in hotels and restaurants.Although the transformation of downtown Atlanta into atourist and convention center has provided jobs for many residents, Newmanconcludes that people in the central city--mostly African Americans--havenot shared equally in the region's overall economic growth. Instead, Newmanconsiders the division and tension between downtown and the suburbs, andhe questions whether the city should continue to make large public investmentsin hospitality businesses that are available in other localities and donot reflect the region's specific culture. Instead, Newman suggests thecity invest in smaller projects, especially those that emphasize the cultureof the South and those that aim to revitalize African American neighborhoodsand promote the culture of the South shared by blacks and whites.

Tourism --- Hospitality industry --- Heritage tourism --- History. --- Atlanta (Ga.) --- Social life and customs. --- Service industries --- Cultural tourism --- Holiday industry --- Operators, Tour (Industry) --- Tour operators (Industry) --- Tourism industry --- Tourism operators (Industry) --- Tourist industry --- Tourist trade --- Tourist traffic --- Travel industry --- Visitor industry --- National tourism organizations --- Travel --- Economic aspects --- City of Atlanta (Ga.) --- Cities And Towns --- Business & Economics --- Political Science --- Atlanta (ga.) --- Cities and towns --- Business & economics --- Political science