Recreation and Leisure: Issues in an Era of Change

Some years ago, in the midst of a discussion about the literature in the recreation field, the editors uncovered a mutual and long-held interest in trying to put together a book about issues facing the field. In recent years they had witnessed the publication of some very good books on recreation and leisure - and some very bad ones. However good or bad one judges some or all of the literature in the field to be, still there remains a gap in that too seldom are issues raised or argued forcefully enough that they cannot be readily dismissed. They believe the task of presenting issues an important one, whatever the subject or applied field. It is their hope that this book will help fill a void in the literature of the recreation and leisure field. Each of the twenty-nine chapters in this book is presented in a manner to be perceptive and timely, being based on wide-ranging study and experience of an objectively viewed North American scene. The book is unique in that each chapter is a mini-treatise. In that sense, it is analytical but not methodological; empirical, but not laden with data on a cross-section of the population at a given time. In each piece, the reasoning for the view taken is developed in order to generate thought, reflection, and even argument. No one (including the editors) will agree with all of the positions or arguments here. That is as it should be. This is neither a "how to" book nor a mere compendium of current thinking or practice. Neither diatribe nor mainstream, it is an exploration of concerns, issues, assumptions, values, and perceptions which underlie our efforts to serve. There are no answers; there are no easy answers anyway. But there are many suggestions, and much to think about. [From the Preface]