Mundt, J.W. (2014) Thomas Cook: Pionier des Tourismus. Konstanz: UVK Medien Verlagsgesellschaft, ISBN 9783867644969, 222 pages

Mundt, J.W. (2014) Thomas Cook: Pionier des Tourismus. Konstanz: UVK Medien Verlagsgesellschaft, ISBN 9783867644969, 222 pages.Let me begin by saying that Thomas Cook: Pionier des Tourismus is worth reading for numerous reasons. Interesting biographies, in contrast to less interesting ones, give a comprehensive description of the life of a person while making the phases and episodes in that person's life central to the storytelling, thereby making it easier for the reader to draw conclusions about the time in which a person lived, thus making it possible for the reader to understand that person's thoughts and actions in context. By focusing on Thomas Cook, Jorn W. Mundt has written a thought-provoking biography which shows diverse facets of entrepreneurship and tourism. It is no exaggeration to call Cook, a man who left his mark on travel and travel arrangements more than anyone else, a pioneer of tourism. In addition to detailing Thomas Cook's life, this book also shows what makes a pioneer a pioneer: it is a person who remains faithful to an idea, constantly striving to carry out that idea, while still being able to handle setbacks and create a global organization for "new" tourism step-by-step.Thomas Cook must have been a fascinating person. He came from a poor family, and in light of the plight of the working class in Victorian England, two aspects helped shape Cook's later life. His maternal grandfather was a Baptist preacher in the English town of Melbourne, Derbyshire. Thomas, who had little schooling himself initially attended the Methodist Sunday school before changing to that of the Baptists, whose belief includes that only those who do good deeds will be saved. This basic principle was central to Cook's entire life; indeed, this belief was so fundamental to his being that he even tailored his own and his business practices to this basic principle of doing good deeds. And when Jorn W. Mundt criticizes that Cook's entrepreneurial undertakings could be typified as corporate social responsibility today "because even today nobody really knows what that really means" (p. 136), then I interpret this to mean that Cook became a businessman in order to fulfill his religious and social ideals, whereas the debated concepts today of corporate social responsibility do not even come close to Cook's high ideal, never mind that numerous businesses develop CSR strategies merely to put a positive spin on their business's social activities. However, the fundamental difference is that the businesses employing such CSR strategies were not established for the express purpose of fulfilling these social objectives. Thomas Cook's company, on the other hand, may well have been the prototype of a social corporation, at least as long as Thomas Cook himself led the company. One of the reasons why this biography is worth reading is that it shows the differences between Thomas and his son and successor John Mason: Whereas Thomas Cook was charitable in all areas of life, John Mason made a point to clearly separate business and personal affairs, an outlook which necessarily and obviously also led to conflicts in the company and resulting (bad) decisions. Jorn W. Mundt manages to make this biography a must-read for everyone who desires to learn more about the prerequisites for practicing good business.The second aspect that greatly influenced Thomas Cook's thoughts and actions from a young age is related to the economic situation of the time in which he lived: war, economic crises, unemployment, and hunger plagued the lives of those living in the first half of the nineteenth century. This detrimental situation contributed to the fact that alcoholism was a grave problem in some areas, a fact which Thomas Cook learned early on in life since he was confronted with it at work. Cook must have realized that people were not able to have fun and socialize, but rather had to take a trip by drinking, although on such trips "they never left their actual location in the real world" (p. …