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Book Review of A Day in the Night of America

A Day in the Night of America
TheLankyYankee avatar reviewed on + 81 more book reviews


From the Amazon editorial review...
"Ingeniously conceived, superbly executed, freelance journalist Coyne's first book examines how Americans live--and, in particular, work--at night. At least 10 million people in the U.S. are on the job between midnight and 6 a.m., he reveals, and this defiance of day's end did not begin with Edison: Americans worked the late shift as early as 1646. Some night workers are ubiquitous--convenience store clerks, radio call-in show hosts, bakers preparing food for the breakfast trade--but others are easily overlooked, including steelworkers who maintain the ultra-high temperatures of foundry furnaces and Wall Street traders in foreign currencies. Beginning with fishermen in Gloucester, Mass., Coyne visited after-hours laborers in 41 states, ending his tour with a look at tugboaters on Puget Sound and a trip to Alaska for the briefest night of the year. The book resonates with Coyne's great interest in the "nightsiders" as people and in the work they do."
Reed Business Information, Inc.

I enjoyed this sociological account of what it is like to be a worker on the nightshift. Coyne writes eloquently and magically, discussing the influence of the night on its workers and how they not only relate to the darkness, but also the sunshine of day.