Working At Play: A History of Vacations in the United States / Edition 1

by Cindy S. Aron

Overview

In Working at Play, Cindy 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, 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 grew with it. Religious camp grounds, where gambling, drinking, and bathing on Sundays were prohibited, became established resorts. At the same time 'self improvement' vacations began to flourish, allowing a middle class still uncomfortable with the notion of leisure to feel productive while at play. 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195142341
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/31/2001
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)
Lexile:	1520L (what's this?)

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.

Table of Contents

AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart One: Inventing Vacations1. Recuperation and Recreation: The Pursuit of Health and Genteel Pleasures23. "Summer hotels are everywhere": A Flood of"through the streets in bathing costumes": Resort Vacations, 1850-19004. "No late hours, no headache in the morning": Self-Improvement Vacations5. "a jaunt... agreeable and instructive": The Vacationer as Tourist6. "Unfashionable, but for once happy!": Camping VacationsPart Two: Into the Twentieth Century7. "Vacations do not appeal to them": Extending Vacations to the Working Class8. Crossing Class and Racial Boundaries: Vacationing in the Early Twentieth Century9. "It's worthwhile to get something from your holiday": Vacationing During the DepressionEpilogueNotesIndex

Editorial Reviews

"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

"[A] well researched, persuasive examination of vacation."—The Washington Post

"Simply a lot of fun to read—the result of that rare combination, exhaustive research and engaging writing."—The Women's Review of Books

"[A] pathbreaking study...Thoroughly researched, elegantly written, and painfully relevant to contemporary life, Aron's books is a treat for lay and scholarly reader alike." The International Journal of the History of Sport

"Working at Play...[is] based on widespread and imaginative research...[An] intriguing excursion into American holiday habits and mindsets."—Business History

From the Publisher

Aron skillfully traces the evolution of vacations, while simultaneously describing the insecurities that the burgeoning phenomenon raised. She very astutely begins with the Puritan distinction between "recreation" and "amusement"...and examines the growth of self-improvement resorts, religious camps, chautauquas and educational world's fairs as a response to the increasing reports of licentiousness and dissipation that came from seaside resorts and fashionable spas.
— In These Times

John Ghazvinian

Ms. Aron argues in her book that however captive to work people may be while on vacation now, it originated as a benefit and then became a marker of middle-class status.
— New York Times

Felicia B. Lee

Solid research and chatty anecdotal evidence support her argument that vacations have done more for Americans than merely stuff their closets with souvenirs.

USA Today

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

Chicago Tribune

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....The book contains fascinating tidbits, like the fact the by the 1920's beaches around New York were "foul with urban refuse," prompting encounters with not just other swimmers but also the "body of a dog, sheep, chicken, or cat. New York Times Book Review

Andrea Higbie

Although both of these books are written by academics and cover the history of travel, their focuses and styles are quite different. Voyages and Visions is a collection of loosely related essays written by professors from Britain and Spain. The comprehensive introduction by editors Elsner (art history, Courtauld Inst.) and Rubi s (history, Univ. of Reading) deals with the early history of travel and travel literature, from the Greeks and Romans to medieval pilgrimages. Other essays cover the writings of Petrarch, Montaigne, Bernier, and Rennell; travel accounts from the New World and Europe; mountaineering; and even travel in science fiction. The writing styles vary, with some essays more readable than others, but all delve into literary and historical theory. While equally substantial, Working at Play is a somewhat easier read. Aron, a professor at the University of Virginia, focuses on the history of vacations in the United States, offering extensive accounts from newspaper and magazine articles, letters, and diaries. She discusses the progression of American attitudes toward vacations. At first, vacations were for the rich and were often taken for health reasons until advances in transportation and the belief that refreshed workers are more productive led to vacations for most Americans. Aron details how the idea of church-related and educational vacations springs from the Puritan fear of idleness. There is also discussion of women's roles and vacations for minorities. Both books are recommended for academic social history collections.--Kathleen A. Shanahan, Kensington, MD Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

An entire book about Americans and their vacations? At first glance, it seems a frivolous, almost wacky wacky notion. But this is precisely what Cindy S. Aron has undertaken in this scholarly, thoroughly entertaining and perceptive volume.
— Wall Street Journal

Birmingham

An interesting if somewhat academic social history of the American vacation that examines the tension between the American work ethic and the concept of leisure.

Kirkus Reviews