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Pages are clean with normal wear. May have limited markings & or highlighting within pages & or cover. Includes dustjacket if applicable. May have some wear & creases on the cover. The spine may also have minor wear. Does not come with CD DVD if applicable. Access code has been used if applicable. Does not come with any supplementary materials. Pages are clean with normal wear. May have limited markings & or highlighting within pages & or cover. Includes dustjacket if applicable. May have some wear & creases on the cover. The spine may also have minor wear. Does not come with CD DVD if applicable. Access code has been used if applicable. Does not come with any supplementary materials. See less
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A. Roger Ekirch
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At Day's Close: Night in Times Past First Edition

by A. Roger Ekirch (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 599 ratings
See all formats and editions
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"Remarkable.… Ekirch has emptied night's pockets, and laid the contents out before us." ―Arthur Krystal, The New Yorker

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).

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  1. ISBN-10
    0393329011
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0393329018
  3. Edition
    First Edition
  4. Publisher
    W. W. Norton & Company
  5. Publication date
    October 17, 2006
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    5.6 x 1.4 x 8.3 inches
  8. Print length
    488 pages
  9. See all details
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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
599 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book fascinating and entertaining, providing insights into the subject matter. They describe the writing quality as well-written and compelling. The book provides an interesting look at life before lighting and how artificial light has changed mankind. Readers appreciate the author's use of primary sources. However, some find the reading repetitive and a bit long.

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InterestInsightWriting qualityLightnessAuthor's use of primary sourcesPacingReadabilityLength
64 customers mention "Interest"64 positive0 negative

Customers find the book interesting and entertaining. They appreciate the well-informed writing and the remarkable account of Man's evolution from servitude to independence. The layout and progression of the story are also praised.

"Ekirch ate. Good book, iconic. Recommend if you are interested in anthropology/sleep research." Read more

"...Please don't worry about that. At Day's Close is an absolute delight. Daddy says: "You'll love it. Buy it."" Read more

"This is a good book for someone without a lot of background in pre-modern history, who may be completely unfamiliar with much of the material...." Read more

"...It is really an accomplishment.The layout and progression the book presents in telling its story, and Ekirch's obvious trove of sources and studies..." Read more

59 customers mention "Insight"55 positive4 negative

Customers find the book enlightening and well-researched. They appreciate the interesting subject matter and detailed information not covered in the show. The style is easy to read but immersive, painting a rich picture of nighttime. Readers mention the book provides additional information not covered in the TV show.

"...I was not let down. It really provided a lot of additional information not covered in the show...." Read more

"...of Mr. Ekirch isn't dull, isn't flat, isn't thick or heavy, ponderous or academic, or difficult "to get into" at all...." Read more

"...the book presents in telling its story, and Ekirch's obvious trove of sources and studies, made it hard for me to put down , simply leave it and go..." Read more

"...Ekrich has written an enlightening book about a topic that has, amazingly, escaped scholarly light until now...." Read more

37 customers mention "Writing quality"30 positive7 negative

Customers appreciate the book's writing quality. They find it well-written and engaging, with literary quotes and primary sources. The author's formula is simple, but readers appreciate the references and mention that the book is a memorial to the past.

"...to write something that is both solidly based and yet readable and enjoyable...." Read more

"...The book is a memorial , an honor inscribed to the past. Not all was wonder, delight and star gazing out in the fields...." Read more

"A. Roger Ekirch's book is a well-written, rich exploration of the experience of night through the ages...." Read more

"...Despite the somewhat uneven nature of his prose, the author does a fine job getting across the many ways darkness affected human lives...." Read more

6 customers mention "Lightness"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book interesting. They mention it explores life before lighting, how artificial light has changed mankind, and what the dark meant to humanity during those ages. The book also discusses distinct periods of the night that we no longer know about, as well as early beliefs about nighttime involving death, sickness, fairies, and much more.

"...He tells how a rushlight is lit, a candle is trimmed, how curfews and walled cities were important, what night watchmen did and how they were treated..." Read more

"...is the wealth of illustrations, mostly by Flemish artists, which shed more light, if you'll excuse the expression, on things than do a hundred..." Read more

"...It gives much to think about especially how artificial light has changed mankind and how we operate. I recommend this read." Read more

"...journey into the history of nighttime and what the darkness meant to humanity during those ages...." Read more

3 customers mention "Author's use of primary sources"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the author's use of primary and secondary sources. They find the book a useful resource with literary quotes and primary sources.

"...I especially liked the literary quotes and the primary sources Ekirch shared. This is an amazing resource...." Read more

"...a miraculous job of borrowing from so many different primary and secondary sources to create a really amazing, informative book...." Read more

"...I liked the author's use of primary sources, but the way in which he inserted them with the regular text could be confusing...." Read more

15 customers mention "Pacing"10 positive5 negative

Customers have different views on the book's pacing. Some find it charming and well-researched, with good illustrations that highlight subtle details. Others describe it as dull at the beginning but improves later on.

"Ekirch ate. Good book, iconic. Recommend if you are interested in anthropology/sleep research." Read more

"A bit dull at the beginning but the later chapters are better. It has lots of quotes which are knitted together sometimes confusingly...." Read more

"...The writing of Mr. Ekirch isn't dull, isn't flat, isn't thick or heavy, ponderous or academic, or difficult "to get into" at all...." Read more

"...evocative, enlightening, playful and deathly serious, this book is an odd, quirky, charming bit of History ----and a wonder and joy for anyone with..." Read more

17 customers mention "Readability"5 positive12 negative

Customers find the book's reading humdrum, repetitive, and boring. They feel the narrative is not engaging and the book is too dense and academic.

"...'s no authorial voice to speak of, and it makes for disparate, humdrum reading...." Read more

"...I persevered but while I does have some interesting details, it’s very repetitive and scattered in its presentation...." Read more

"...It was neat to learn about how folks dealt with the time before flashlights, electric street lights and such...." Read more

"...Not a book to read all at once. Read a bit before bed, turn out the light, and then wonder at the world of the 21st century." Read more

3 customers mention "Length"0 positive3 negative

Customers find the book a bit long.

"...My only complaint about the book is that it wasn't longer...I wanted more!" Read more

"Interesting but a little long. Life was very hard back then and more dangerous. Well researched." Read more

"Fascinating but a little long winded." Read more

Ítem arrived in plastic, but when plastics wrap remove it was damaged
1 out of 5 stars
Ítem arrived in plastic, but when plastics wrap remove it was damaged
I just opened it. Ordered hardcover expecting better quality to keep in library, but received a damaged book.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • D A W
    5.0 out of 5 stars No crumbs
    Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Ekirch ate. Good book, iconic. Recommend if you are interested in anthropology/sleep research.
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  • Cool Daddy Oh
    4.0 out of 5 stars If you like history and enjoy learning about the world before electric lights
    Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    I bought this book because of a show I was watching. And they interviewed this author and listed this book for that show. I was not let down. It really provided a lot of additional information not covered in the show. It was neat to learn about how folks dealt with the time before flashlights, electric street lights and such. If you are a history buff, would highly recommend this one. Would recommend it for just people wanting to know more about how our forefathers lived just day to day lives.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Mystery Shopper
    5.0 out of 5 stars Another "Buy It" Recommendation from Daddy
    Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    I've only read the first third or so of this book. There were a number of good reviews written about it, and I doubted I could add anything much of value to them, but after starting the book, I was so struck by how unfair and, frankly, inaccurate the negative reviewers (at least in my memory) had been that I decided to add my pittance to the pile. The writing of Mr. Ekirch isn't dull, isn't flat, isn't thick or heavy, ponderous or academic, or difficult "to get into" at all. It's like a very good travel book, but it's time travel, and that's the very best kind of travel book in my opinion. Here is a prose sample from paragraph one of the book's first chapter:

    "Rather than falling, night, to the watchful eye, rises. Emerging first in the valleys, shadows slowly ascend sloping hillsides. Fading rays known as "sunsuckers" dart upward behind clouds as if being inhaled for another day. While pastures and woodlands are lost to gloom, the western sky remains aglow even as the sun draws low beneath the horizon."

    And it only gets better!

    Beautiful and poetic, at least so says I. Reminds me of Barbara Tuchman's writing. In particular her book, A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century, And If you order At Day's Close and like it as much as I do, I'm sure you'll like hers as well.

    The past that Mr. Ekirch presents is absolutely fascinating, strange, and heretofore unknown to me. I don't mean to come down hard on those who might disagree, but I'm very concerned that others might skip this offering, and I hate to think of anyone missing out on it. I've certainly encountered many books written by college professors about subjects I thought would be enjoyable to read about, but their writing sometimes has been daunting. I remember an essay (I've forgotten it's title) Flannery O'Connor wrote about her experience addressing a symposium in some Ivy League institution back East about Southern Fiction. After being asked a number of convoluted, deconstructionist type questions by faculty members, she stopped her speech and shaking her head said, "You know, sometimes you academics strain the soup a bit thin for my taste." So when I read the complaints about Professor Ekirch's prose, I admit I felt a little reluctant to order the book. I worried that I'd be, once again, wasting my money and time. Please don't worry about that. At Day's Close is an absolute delight.

    Daddy says: "You'll love it. Buy it."
    243 people found this helpful
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  • Chris Laning
    3.0 out of 5 stars Good introduction but....
    Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2010
    Verified Purchase
    This is a good book for someone without a lot of background in pre-modern history, who may be completely unfamiliar with much of the material. The author is clearly trying hard (with mixed success, as other reviewers note) to write something that is both solidly based and yet readable and enjoyable. He makes heavy use of anecdotes and statistics from clearly marked sources, which I think is a Good Thing from a historian's point of view.

    He also gives a good many of his own opinions and generalizations, sometimes footnoted, sometimes not. Some I would question, such as (to take a random example) "Pre-industrial folk, in facing the natural world, drew on a deep reservoir of rural culture, one fed by many wellsprings, including both pagan and Christian traditions." I wish he had given some examples of pagan and Christian practices used to navigate the nightscape (the subject of the chapter), but he doesn't. Many sections are loosely written like this, throwing out a lot of ideas without really following any of them up. (My question in this case is whether anything truly pagan, as opposed to merely traditional practices for "luck," existed this late in Western European history.)

    Since I do have a background in history, I was actually disappointed in this book. Here's why: because it told me a good many things I already knew, but the one idea that was really news to me wasn't expanded on as much as I'd like: the idea that pre-industrial Europeans regarded sleeping in two sessions per night (routinely waking for awhile around midnight) as the norm. This insight was promoted as something new and different about this book (which it is) but in fact it gets less than ten pages in a 340-page text before veering off into a discussion of dreams. I would have liked to hear much more.

    All in all, this looks to me like an author trying to cram too much material into one book. A lot of what's in there is interesting, but the material could have been pared down, tightened up, and then expanded in selected spots, to make a much better book that discussed fewer topics in more depth. There's enough in here that is NOT generally known to most people that a fascinating book could have been constructed.
    55 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Dorval Fagundes
    5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing book
    Reviewed in Brazil on August 1, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    All the people should read this book. Today, we don't have the same understanding about the nighttime that ours ancestors once had. Thus we need to read these fascinating stories to achieve a part of their conscience about nighttime. Surprisingly, the modern world took off us these ancient notions about nighttime. Please, read this book. Certainly, you will like it.
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  • nietzscheman
    5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful story on how our ancestors spent the nighttime
    Reviewed in Spain on May 30, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    Full of delightful anecdotes, this book will make the day of anyone interested in the Middle/Modern Ages, and in how people lived the nighttime in particular.
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  • Ille C. G
    5.0 out of 5 stars Buch über die Nacht
    Reviewed in Germany on January 25, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    Hab ich immer schon gesucht, und nun in diesem Buch gefunden. Interessant, wie die Nacht durch die Zeiten gesehen wurde. Der Autor ist sehr erfahren.
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Thanks.
    Reviewed in India on April 29, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    thanks.
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  • aussie customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars An enchanting book
    Reviewed in Australia on May 16, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Flows well, easy to read, interesting & compelling
    Report