Working At Play A History of Vacations in the United States

No one works harder at playing than Americans. Indeed, as Cindy Aronreveals in this intriguing account, the American vacation has seen a constanttension between labor and leisure, especially in the 19th and early 20thcentury, when we often struggled to protect ourselves from the sin of idleness.In Working at Play, Aron offers the first full length history of howAmericans have vacationed--from eighteenth-century planters who summered inNewport to twentieth-century urban workers who headed for camps in the hills. Inthe early nineteenth century, Aron shows, vacations were taken for health morethan for fun, as the wealthy traveled to watering places, seeking cures foreverything from consumption to rheumatism. But starting in the 1850s, the growthof a white collar middle class and the expansion of railroads made vacationing amainstream activity. Aron charts this growth with grace and insight, tracing therise of new vacation spots as the nation and the middle class blossomed. Sheshows how late nineteenth-century resorts became centers of competitive sports.Bowling, tennis, golf, hiking, swimming, and boating absorbed the hours. But asvacationing grew, she writes, fears of the dangers of idleness bloomed with it.Self improvement vacations flourished; religious camp grounds became establishedresorts, where gambling, drinking, and bathing on Sunday were banned. AsburyPark, named after Francis Asbury, the first American Methodist bishop, quicklybecame one of the most popular getaways for the devout.With vivid detail and much insight, Working at Play offers a livelyhistory of the vacation, throwing new light on the place of work and rest inAmerican culture.

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.