At Day's Close: A History of Nighttime

Review A wonderful revelation of a vanished age of darkness ― SPECTATOR A triumph of social history. Almost every page contains something to surprise the reader ... one of the most enjoyable literary experiences of the year ― MAIL ON SUNDAY An enthralling anthropology of the shadow reals of Western Europe from the late Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution ... a passionate case against too much artificial light ― HARPER'S MAGAZINE In his fascinating survey of the dark hours of the pre-industrial era, A Roger Ekirch takes us deep into an age when the very lack of light threw life into confusion ... an engrossing book that illuminates the darker recesses of the past ― SUNDAY TELEGRAPH Meticulously researched ... AT DAY'S CLOSE is a splendid book ... great entertainment, and to social historians it will be of immense value -- Sir Patrick Moore ― TIMES HIGHER EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT A comprehensive account of nightlife...bursting with esoteric and well-sourced information about everything from candles and curfews to church bells and chamber pots ― EVENING STANDARD Wonderful... Ekirch spares no pains to rediscover the lost world of the dark ... A book that can't be summarised but must be experienced -- David Wootton ― LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS Just the sort of browsable treat guaranteed to cause insomnia ― THE SCOTSMAN Night-time has been curiously ignored by social historians. This fine book corrects that lack ... Entertaining and informative ― THE TIMES Ekirch's absorbing history reveals an alternative universe shaped by real and imaginary perils ― SUNDAY TIMES Fascinating ... exploring what went on at night between 1500 and 1830 ... Here are microcultural tales of pirates and robbers, blanket fairs (people climbing into bed together to talk before going to sleep), curtain lectures (wives who felt emboldened by the dark to complain to their recumbent husbands) and night-kings (sewer cleaners in German) ― GUARDIAN The book is especially engaging on the social significance of the night, the moral meanings projected into the dark ― FINANCIAL TIMES There are so many good stories here which do not usually find themselves between the same covers ― LITERARY REVIEW This enlightening book ... is one of the most fascinating and rewarding literary experiences you are likely to discover this year ― HERTS & ESSEX OBSERVER Absorbing ... fascinating ... tells us about everything from witches to firefighting, architecture to domestic violence ... a monumental study ― THE NATION Just the sort of browsable treat guaranteed to cause insomnia. ― THE SCOTSMAN (29/4/06) Wonderful... Ekirch spares no pains to rediscover the lost world of the dark. ... A book that can't be summarised but must be experienced. -- David Wootton ― LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS (9/3/06) Night-time has been curiously ignored by social historians. This fine book corrects that lack. ... Entertaining and informative, this book is also challenging. ― THE TIMES (25/3/06) Ekirch's absorbing history reveals an alternative universe shaped by real and imaginary perils. ― SUNDAY TIMES (23/4/06) This enlightening book ... is one of the most fascinating and rewarding literary experiences you are likely to discover this year. ― HERTS & ESSEX OBSERVER (11/5/06) Product Description A fascinating and colourful social history of the nighttime in the pre-Industrial era. AT DAY'S CLOSE charts a fresh realm of Western culture, nocturnal life from the late medieval period to the Industrial revolution. The book focuses on the cadences of daily life, investigating nighttime in its own right and resurrecting a rich and complex universe in which persons passed nearly half of their lives - a world, long-lost to historians, of blanket fairs, night freaks, and curtain lectures, of sun-suckers, moon-cursers and night-kings. It is not only the vocabulary that has disappeared, AT DAY'S CLOSE will restitute many facts which have been either lost or forgotten. It is a significant and newswort