Reviews for At Day's Close: Night in Times Past

The average rating for At Day's Close: Night in Times Past based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-04-29 00:00:00 Bethany Louden In my imagination, this book was incisive, poetic, amusing and able to offer a narrative that would make me want to listen to the Clair de Lune and read Seven Gothic Tales. In reality, this book is the reason that academics invented the word "undertheorized." Filled with scintillating revelations like "the devil is associated with nighttime," and piles of research notes organized into themes. There is no excuse for a boring book when your material includes fairy hills and witches' sabbaths. That's just lazy.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-01-22 00:00:00 Angelos Metaxas In these days of electricity, neon and light pollution, it's hard to imagine just how DARK it must have been in times before artificial illumination. At set of sun, darkness descended, and superstition and worry ran rampant. Fearing robbers and murderers, doors were barred, prayers were said, and a fretful sleep was had until dawn lit the skies once again. Adriaen Brouwer, Dune Landscape by Moonlight But not everyone stayed indoors. While gathering gloom inspired fear in some, others finally felt free from society's constraints - "...the darkness of night loosened the tethers of the visible world." The onset of night encouraged drinking, card playing and other activities frowned upon by clergy. There were many recorded cases of people stumbling about in the dark, tumbling into ditches, ravines and rivers...though alcohol frequently played as much a part in their missteps as lack of light. For others, nightfall meant an end to the day's labor and "a welcome truce from daily toil." William Hogarth, Night Ekirch provides information on just about everything associated with night through history, from bedding to sleep habits to man's earlier efforts to create light. Some chapters dragged and seemed a bit repetitious, but on the whole, this is a fascinating look at all aspects of nocturnal human behavior.