Puritans at Play: Leisure and Recreation in Colonial New England

ISBN-13: 9780312161248 / Angielski / Miękka / 1996 / 271 str.

Bruce C. Daniels

Opis

For over four centuries, "Puritan" has been a synonym for dour, joyless, and repressed. In PURITANS AT PLAY, Bruce Daniels reappraises the accuracy of this grim portrait by examining leisure and recreation in Colonial and Revolutionary New England. Chapters on music, dinner parties, dancing, sex, alcohol, taverns, and sports are presented in a lively style that makes this book as entertaining as it is illuminating.

Spis treści

Introduction: Puritanism, Play, and American Culture - DID PURITANS LIKE FUN? - Sober Mirth and Pleasant Poisons: Historians, Puritan Ambivalence, and the Concept of Pleasure in Early New England - INTELLECTUAL AND CULTURAL ENTERTAINMENT - Quiet Times: Reading for Pleasure and Profit - Music and Theater Struggle for Legitimacy - GATHERING TOGETHER - Congregational Socializing: Gathering Together at the Meetinghouse - Civic Socializing: Parties for the Common Good - MEN AND WOMEN FROLIC TOGETHER - Frolics for Fun: Dances, Weddings, and Dinner Parties - The Progress of Romance: Sex and Courtship - Drinking and Socializing: Alcohol, Taverns, and Alehouse Culture - SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES AND BARRIERS - Men Frolic by Themselves: Sport and Games in a Male Culture - The Fragmentation of Social Experience: Age, Gender, Location, and Social Class - PURITANS, REVOLUTIONARIES AND AMERICANS - The Puritan Legacy: The National Inheritance - Endnotes - Index