In the watches of the night
Subtitle: life in the nocturnal city, 1820-1930
By: Peter C. Baldwin
Series: Historical studies of urban America
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Chicago; London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 284
ISBN-13: 9780226036021
Subjects: Cities and towns; Municipal lighting; History; Nightlife; Night work
Description: Before skyscrapers and streetlights, American cities fell into inky blackness with each setting of the sun. But over the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries, new technologies began to light up the city. This text depicts the changing experiences of the urban night over this period, visiting a host of actors in the nocturnal city.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Making night hideous; title: Lighting the heart of darkness; title: Quitting time; title: Recreations and dissipations; title: After midnight; title: Nightmen; title: Incessance; title: Mashers, owl cars, and night hawks; title: Night life in the electric city; title: Regulated night.