A “Civilizing” Industry: Leo Dolan, Canadian Tourism Promotion, and the Celebration of Mass Culture.

Scholarship examining public pronouncements on “mass culture” in Canada during the post-World War Two period has focused overwhelmingly on the pessimistic voices of the cultural critics who feared mass culture's deleterious effects upon national identity, democracy, and intellectual freedom. A more accurate understanding of the extent to which mass culture was contested terrain in post-war Canada requires an analysis of the optimistic pronouncements offered by business leaders and government officials. This article examines the rhetoric of Canada's leading post-war tourism promoter, Leo Dolan, and highlights the extent to which he viewed mass culture as a positive force that could achieve many of the same ends that the cultural critics endorsed. While cultural critics saw mass culture as a barrier to progress, Leo Dolan and other tourism promoters in North America championed tourism as an element of mass culture that would facilitate international understanding, strengthen national unity, and contribute to Western civilization. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]