At Day's Close: Night in Times Past

Bringing light to the shadows of history through a rich weave of citation and archival evidence (Publishers Weekly), scholar A. Roger Ekirch illuminates the aspects of life most often overlooked by other historians--those that unfold at night. In this triumph of social history (Mail on Sunday), Ekirch's enthralling anthropology (Harper's) exposes the nightlife that spawned a distinct culture and a refuge from daily life.

Fear of crime, of fire, and of the supernatural; the importance of moonlight; the increased incidence of sickness and death at night; evening gatherings to spin wool and stories; masqued balls; inns, taverns, and brothels; the strategies of thieves, assassins, and conspirators; the protective uses of incantations, meditations, and prayers; the nature of our predecessors' sleep and dreams--Ekirch reveals all these and more in his monumental study (The Nation) of sociocultural history, maintaining throughout an infectious sense of wonder (Booklist).