Waiting for the Weekend Book

We work, Aristotle wrote, "in order to have leisure. " This is still true. But is the leisure that Aristotle spoke of—the freedom to do nothing—the same leisure we look forward to each weekend? There have always been breaks from the routine of work—taboo days, public festivals, holy days—we couldn't survive without them. Here, Witold Rybczynski unfolds the history and evolution of leisure time in Western civilization, from Aristotle to the present. Along the way, he explores how the psychological needs that leisure time seeks to fulfill have changed as the nature of work has changed.

Aristotle wrote that we work in order to have leisure. But is the leisure that Aristotle spoke of--the freedom to do nothing--the same as the leisure we look forward to each weekend? With fascinating anecdotal detail, Rybczynski unfolds the history of leisure from ancient Rome to the Enlightenment to today, explores the origins of the week and the weekend, and illuminates its profound influences on our lives.