At Day's Close: Night in Times Past

At Day's Close: Night in Times Past by Roger Ekirch

A cultural history of the pre-industrial Western night, Ekirch’s study explores the origins of deeply-held associations between darkness, fear, and evil, while detailing our ancestors’ nocturnal activities: sleep, labor, crime, and carousing.

Read a related article online: "Sleep We Have Lost: Pre-Industrial Slumber in the British Isles.  The American Historical Review.  106: 2.  (April 2001).  

Ekirch, A. Roger. At Day's Close: Night in Times Past. W.W. Norton, 2005.