Sounds of Vacation: Political Economies of Caribbean Tourism examines the commodification of music and sound at all-inclusive hotels throughout the Caribbean to look at the relationships between political economy, hospitality, and the legacies of slavery and colonialism.

There are five essays and they look at The Bahamas, an unnamed French colony (yet the clues point to Guadaloupe), Sint Maarten, Barbados, and Saint Lucia. My personal favourite was "Touristic Rhythms" by Jerome Camal. He is able to create a narrative for the reader while educating them on the politics of music and sound. My least favourite was "All-Inclusive Resorts in Sint Maarten and Our Common Decolonial State" by Francio Guadeloupe and Jordi Halfman. The metaphor of butterflies did not pass over well and the narrative was hard to follow.

Each essay follows a different method of observation in studying sound. Each study is interesting and illuminates the way people in the Caribbean have similar experiences and yet are so different. The essays examine and observe changes in music, how tourism affects music, how sound (or the lack of it) impacts the hotel experience, how hotels have similar plantation themes, locals versus seasonal staff, the erasure of black locals in hotels, and much more.

"...Vistors' sensory engagement with the Caribbean is not limited to sight and taste. It is complete. It involves all of our senses: sight, smell, taste, but also touch, kinesthesia, and of course, sound."

Each essay offers something for the reader to think about whether it relates to music or everyday sound in the Caribbean. The effects of colonialism shine through in every essay.

"The lesson of this volume is not confined merely to the postcolonial context of Caribbean nation-states. It is revelatory of transnational processes that affect everyone, everywhere."