Review by Choice Review
The premise of Wild Nights is simple: the concept of an eight-hour night of undisturbed sleep is a 150-year-old construct created in response to the Industrial Revolution. Similarly, the idea that people should sleep alone in a bed or room (or two consenting adults sleep in one bed) is also a construct of wealthy societies, to distinguish themselves from less important societies. Problems arise when artificialities come into conflict with reality and expectation. Add to the mix the myriad ways in which sleep preferences and abilities were influenced by candles, electricity, and, finally, by the electronic deluge--all of which demand a share of waking time. The response to new sleep problems has been the creation of a "sleep industry" filled with self-help books, medical specialists, mattress makers, pharmaceuticals, and even sleep coaches--none of which are truly satisfactory. Throughout the narrative, Reiss (English, Emory Univ.) teaches readers lessons derived from Thoreau, childcare, and slavery. This brilliant work is equal parts cultural history, literary criticism, and liberal polemic. Wild Nights is an extraordinarily documented, highly original, and extremely readable work based on significant scholarship. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. --Irwin Richman, Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg Campus
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Reiss (The Showman and the Slave), professor of English at Emory University, takes a historical and literary look at sleep, particularly as it is practiced-or not-in the modern West. Reiss accessibly addresses an astounding breadth of material, though he touches only occasionally on the science of sleep-this is neither an in-depth neurological discussion nor a guide to fixing sleep difficulties. From the very beginning, Reiss argues against popular conceptions of what is considered "normal" sleep: "sleeping in one straight shot through the night... with, at most, two consenting adults sharing a bed." As he also notes, "virtually nothing about our standard model of sleep existed as we know it two centuries ago." Electric lighting and factory work removed people from sleep that was more attuned to seasonal and regional variations in daylight and warmth. Middle-class ideals of multiroomed houses pushed away previous patterns of communal sleeping and sleeping with children in the same room or bed. In the 21st century, the blue light emitted by ubiquitous digital screens decreases melatonin output, reducing the ability to sleep, and the reliance on 24-hour call centers to cater to Westerners' IT and shopping needs disturbs the sleep patterns of workers elsewhere. This is a captivating examination and Reiss gives readers much to ponder long into the night. Agent: Wendy Strothman, Strothman Agency. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
In his latest work, Reiss (literature, Emory Univ.; The Showman and the Slave) takes on the daunting task of compiling a history of modern sleep over the last two centuries, with mixed success. Attempting to build on works such as A. Roger Ekrich's At Day's Close: Nights in Times Past, Reiss's interdisciplinary approach to the topic offers varied perspectives, compelling anecdotes, and a well-researched bibliography for readers interested in learning more about the global state of sleep affairs. However, the author fails to explain convincingly the notion of modern sleep as "wild," and how its adoption has "created our restless world." There are simply too many cultural factors at play to decouple, many of which are hard to document. Often offering anachronistic comparisons beginning with the onset of modern sleep in the 19th century and ending in the digital age, Reiss rarely follows through on the respective historical arcs that are pertinent toward a comprehensive telling of the story he wants to write. -VERDICT For those interested in better understanding some of the developments that led to our contemporary notion of sleep, Reiss' effort offers a solid starting point. However, the topic is too ambitious and sprawling to be fully covered in this concise work.-Matt Gallagher, Univ. of the -Sciences, Philadelphia © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A thorough probing into why sleep is such a problem for so many in contemporary society.Reiss (English/Emory Univ.; Theaters of Madness: Insane Asylums and Nineteenth-Century American Culture, 2008, etc.) takes both a long and surprisingly wide view of sleep, looking back over the centuries to examine literature, cultures, and social and medical history. The author's main thesis is that we have too rigid a sense of what sleep should be: a private experience of eight solid hours in a dark, quiet, comfortable setting. "Only over the past few hundred years," he writes, "did sleep come to be privatized, packaged into one standard time slot, and removed from nature's great rhythmic cycles of temperature and light." Human sleep patterns, he writes, are remarkably flexible, and there is no single correct and healthy way to sleep. Before the industrialized and electrified age, sleep often came in segments throughout the day and night, and in many cases, groupsentire familiesslept together. The author devotes an entire chapter to Thoreau, who in Walden showed his preoccupation with sleeping and waking on one's own schedule. Reiss also cites a wide variety of other writers, including B.F. Skinner, Benjamin Spock, Maurice Sendak, and Arianna Huffington. He even considers the videos of Andy Warhol and Kanye West, and he includes sleep researchers' studies, anecdotes of troubled sleepers, and the unhappy stories of frazzled parents struggling to put their children to sleep. In addition, Reiss takes readers to diverse locations, from utopian communities, such as the Shakers, to insane asylums and the holds of slave ships. In the final chapter, the author tackles the question of where sleep is heading and finds no clear answer; some people will perhaps find flexibility, but others will remain controlled by unforgiving schedules. A fresh approach to a familiar phenomenon. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
