Sunday : a history of the first day from Babylonia to the Super Bowl / Craig Harline.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Harline, Craig.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sunday--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (480 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Yale University Press, 2011, c2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The mere mention of "Sunday" will immediately conjure up a rich mix of memories, associations, and ideas for most anyone of any age. Whatever we think of-be it attending church, reading a bulky newspaper, eating brunch, or watching football-Sunday occupies a unique place in Western civilization. But how did we come to have a day with such a singular set of traditions? Here, historian Craig Harline examines Sunday from its ancient beginnings to contemporary America in a fascinating blend of stories and analysis. For the earliest Christians, the first day of the week was a time to celebrate the liturgy, observe the Resurrection, and work. But over time, Sunday in the Western world took on still other meanings and rituals, especially in the addition of both rest and recreation to the day's activities. Harline illuminates these changes in enlightening profiles of Sunday in medieval Catholic England, Sunday in the Reformation, and Sunday in nineteenth-century France-home of the most envied and sometimes despised Sunday of the modern world. He continues with moving portraits of soldiers and civilians trying to observe Sunday during World War I, examines the quiet Sunday of England in the 1930's, and concludes with the convergence of various European traditions in the American Sunday, which also adds some distinctly original habits of its own, such as in the realms of commerce and professional sports. With engaging prose and scholarly integrity, Sunday is an entertaining and long-overdue look at a significant hallmark of Western culture.

Contents:

A word before (Super Bowl Sunday, recently)

Sunday ascendant: origins to AD 800

Sunday middle-aged: an English village in 1300

Sunday reformed: a Dutch town in 1624

Sunday a la mode: Paris in the 1890s, in mid-spring

Sunday obscured: Belgium, August 2, 1914

Sunday still: England between the wars

Sunday all mixed up: The United States in the 1950s

A word after: Asse, Belgium, the Annual Kiwanis Barbecue.

Notes:

Originally published: New York : Doubleday, a division of Random House, 2007.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [383]-436) and index.

ISBN:

0-300-16742-3

OCLC:

808346459