When
we first published this erudite and absorbing book,
Publishers
Weekly raved, calling it an "enthralling and important
trans-historical study" carried out through "in-depth, far-ranging scholarship
with a broad political vision" and presented in an "accessible and highly
entertaining writing style."
They continued: "Palmer’s canvas is huge…it
ranges from an analysis of early modern witch culture (which he connects to the
later development of Puritanism) to the emergence of 19th-century semisecret
fraternal orders such as the Oddfellows, the vibrant 20th-century gay male
cultures of drag and sadomasochism, and the emergence of a U.S. jazz and blues
culture…yet he manages to bring these diverse topics together in a cohesive and
astute analysis. Integrating unusual details and artful nuances (from the
specifics of 18th-century pirate executions to the links between the Rosenberg
trial and the novels of Micky Spillane), Palmer creates a multilayered but
seamless portrait of four centuries of Western culture."
Writing in
Against the Current, Leo Panitch called
Cultures of Darkness "a truly breathtaking book, whose
richness of interpretation as well as documentation is nothing short of
remarkable."
And
Choice praised it as
"an unusual work of historical scholarship, a highly readable yet deeply learned
history."
Take advantage of our special Book of the Month deal
and order your copy today!
Peasants, religious heretics, witches, pirates, runaway slaves, prostitutes
and pornographers, frequenters of taverns and fraternal society lodge rooms,
revolutionaries, blues and jazz musicians, beats, and contemporary youth gangs:
those who defied authority, choosing to live dangerously outside the defining
cultural dominions of early insurgent and, later, dominant capitalism are what
Bryan D. Palmer calls people of the night.
Constructing a rich tapestry of example and experience spanning eight
centuries, Palmer’s fascinating account details lives of exclusion and
challenge, as the night travels of the transgressors clash repeatedly with the
powerful conventions of their times. Nights of liberation and exhilarating
desire are at the heart of this study but so, too, are the dangers cloaked in
darkness. Palmer reveals those hidden spaces where darkness concealed acts of
brutalizing terror or alternately provided refuge, solace, or freedom. Using the
night as metaphor and unifying theme Palmer takes an unflinching look at those
dissident or oppositional cultures and movements and shows how they were fueled
and shaped by the rise and transformation of
capitalism.
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