Working At Play: A History of Vacations in the United States - Hardcover

Aron, Cindy S.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195055845 ISBN 13: 9780195055849

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1999

Synopsis

No one works harder at playing than Americans. Indeed, as Cindy Aron reveals in this intriguing account, the American vacation has seen a constant tension between labor and leisure, especially in the 19th and early 20th century, when we often struggled to protect ourselves from the sin of idleness.
In Working at Play, Aron offers the first full length history of how Americans have vacationed--from eighteenth-century planters who summered in Newport to twentieth-century urban workers who headed for camps in the hills. In the early nineteenth century, Aron shows, vacations were taken for health more than for fun, as the wealthy traveled to watering places, seeking cures for everything from consumption to rheumatism. But starting in the 1850s, the growth of a white collar middle class and the expansion of railroads made vacationing a mainstream activity. Aron charts this growth with grace and insight, tracing the rise of new vacation spots as the nation and the middle class blossomed. She shows how late nineteenth-century resorts became centers of competitive sports. Bowling, tennis, golf, hiking, swimming, and boating absorbed the hours. But as vacationing grew, she writes, fears of the dangers of idleness bloomed with it. Self improvement vacations flourished; religious camp grounds became established resorts, where gambling, drinking, and bathing on Sunday were banned. Asbury Park, named after Francis Asbury, the first American Methodist bishop, quickly became one of the most popular getaways for the devout.
With vivid detail and much insight, Working at Play offers a lively history of the vacation, throwing new light on the place of work and rest in American culture.

About this title

About the Author

Cindy S. Aron is the author of Ladies and Gentlemen of the Civil Service: Middle Class Workers in Victorian America, and is Professor of History at the University of Virginia. She lives in Richmond, Virginia.

Review

"A fascinating slice of social history, Aron's book sheds light on a subject few have thought warranted serious study."--Chicago Tribune

"Offers fascinating insights into American attitudes toward leisure."--Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"In this fascinating study Aron shows that the idea of taking time away from work for leisure is a relatively recent development."--Booklist

"An engaging and highly readable study of Americans and their vacations. Aron skillfully illuminates the complex connections between work and structured leisure from Methodist camp meetings through Chautauquan self-improvement to today's laptop computer at the beach." --Karen Halttunen,
Professor of History, U.C. Davis

"Aron's fascinating book reveals how vacations became a regular part of American life and why we still don't feel comfortable taking those vacations. There are many remarkable features to this book-crisp prose, impressive research, well-chosen quotes, and delightful anecdotes, for example.
But most remarkable of all is that this important story has not been told before. We may have trouble taking pleasure in our vacations, but we can surely take pleasure in reading Aron's book." --Roy Rosenzweig, George Mason University

"Working At Play is an historical tour de force. Meticulously and imaginatively researched, written with wit and style, smartly illustrated with period photographs, and persuasively argued, Cindy Aron's new book fills in a very large gap in our own history by describing the critical role
played by vacation resorts, vacationers, and leisure activities in the making of the modern American middle class and the shaping of its vexed and fluid gender relationships. From its first chapter on early 19th-century journeys for 'health recreation' to its concluding chapter on vacationing
during the Depression, Working At Play, like the perfect vacation, entertains and enlightens its readers. It should enjoy a huge audience among academics and the general public." --David Nasaw, The Graduate School of the City University of New York

"Aron makes fascinating observations about such topics as sports and physical exercise for women, how concepts of public modesty changed with the 'bathing costume' and the role social reformers and charitable groups played in both expanding and limiting the vacation possibilities for
immigrants and the inner-city poor. Accessible and enlightening, Aron's social history deserves a popular and wide readership."--Publishers Weekly

"An interesting if somewhat academic history of the American Vacation that examines the tension between the American work ethic and the concept of leisure."--Kirkus Reviews

"Usually the only vacations I'm interested in are my own, so it comes as a pleasant surprise that Working at Play" is so very, well, interesting."--Andrea Higbie, The New York Times Book Review

"Scholarly, thoroughly entertaining, and perceptive"--The Wall Street Journal

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0195055845
• ISBN 13: 9780195055849
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 336