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Drawing on a mix of historical, philosophical, and personal inquiry, Souvenir explores how we use mementos of travel to structure our memories and give meaning to our place in the world.

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Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

For as long as people have traveled to distant lands, they have brought home objects to certify the journey. More than mere merchandise, these travel souvenirs take on a personal and cultural meaning that goes beyond the object itself. Drawing on several millennia of examples-from the relic-driven quests of early Christians, to the mass-produced tchotchkes that line the shelves of a Disney gift shop-travel writer Rolf Potts delves into a complicated history that explores issues of authenticity, cultural obligation, market forces, human suffering, and self-presentation. Souvenirs are shown for what they really are: not just objects, but personalized forms of folk storytelling that enable people to make sense of the world and their place in it.´

Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

Souvenir features illustrations by Cedar Van Tassel

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Preface
1: Introduction: An Embarrassment of Eiffel Towers
2: Souvenirs in the Age of Pilgrimage
3: Souvenirs in the Age of Enlightenment
Interlude: Museums of the Personal
4: Souvenirs in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
5: Souvenirs and Human Suffering
6: Souvenirs and (the Complicated Notion of) Authenticity
7: Souvenirs, Memory, and the Shortness of Life

Notes
Index

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Souvenir, a sweet new book by Rolf Potts, is a little gem (easily tucked into a jacket pocket) filled with big insights . Souvenir explores our passions for such possessions and why we are compelled to transport items from one spot to another . Souvenir´s introduction, titled "An Embarrassment of Eiffel Towers," is a delight to ponder. Forbes

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