Free Time: The Forgotten American Dream

[John Gear]

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Today's Dose by Bernard from Berkeley, California Today's prize is $20 credit. Bernard, follow this link by 11:59 p.m. (Pacific Time) on Monday, November 25, to claim your gift certificate. Your Price $34.95 (New, Trade Paper) add to wishlist Other Recommended Titles Other copies of this book*   New, Trade Paper, $36.25 Other editions of this book*   New, Hardcover, $89.50 * Please note that copies are limited to on-hand quantity; used copies, in particular, may be available in extremely limited supply. Comment and Win! Comment on a product and you could win. The reader whose pick we use has until day's end to claim the gift certificate. Otherwise, we add an extra $20 credit to the next day's prize! Free Time: The Forgotten American Dream by Benjamin Kline Hunnicutt Bernard's Comments: "Benjamin Hunnicutt in 'Free Time: The Forgotten American Dream' provides some clarity regarding the sharing of work by telling the story of US workers' fight to reduce their hours of toil....More significantly, however, Hunnicutt makes clear that the century long fight for more free time, from twelve-hour shifts to ten, and from ten to eight and less, was a vital aspect of original American Dream." Publisher Comments Has the "American Dream" become an unrealistic utopian fantasy, or have we simply forgotten what we are working for? In his topical book, Free Time, Benjamin Kline Hunnicutt examines the way that progress, once defined as more of the good things in life as well as more free time to enjoy them, has come to be understood only as economic growth and more work, forevermore. Hunnicutt provides an incisive intellectual, cultural, and political history of the original "American Dream" from the colonial days to the present. Taking his cue from Walt Whitman's "higher progress," he follows the traces of that dream, cataloging the myriad voices that prepared for and lived in an opening "realm of freedom." Free Time reminds Americans of the forgotten, best part of the "American Dream" — that more and more of our lives might be lived freely, with an enriching family life, with more time to enjoy nature, friendship, and the adventures of the mind and of the spirit. Review "Free Time is an impressive account of evolving thought about work, leisure, and progress in American history. It succeeds admirably in showing how prominent the shorter-hours vision was and provides many of the answers as to why that vision faded. Hunnicutt is thorough in documenting the various voices calling for Higher Progress through expanded leisure." Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare Review "[Hunnicutt] offers a chronological description of the developments that have, over time, stymied our pursuit of the 'American Dream.' Hunnicutt's tenacious, years-long dedication to this topic is impressive." Library Journal Review "Benjamin Kline Hunnicutt's new book could hardly be more timely. His central theme — that the American dream once was not confined merely to ever growing levels of abundance — is all the more relevant in an era of climate science denial and anti-environmentalism of various sorts....I had a hard time putting Free Time down." John Buell, author of Politics, Religion, and Culture in an Anxious Age Review "In his rather intriguing book, Hunnicutt examines the erosion of the pursuit of what today might be called 'quality time,' achieved by working just enough to provide basic sustenance....Hunnicutt traces the ways in which various Americans sought to limit the hours people worked....[He] concludes that with the post-WW II entrenchment of Franklin Roosevelt's 'Full-Time, Full-Employment' policy first introduced during the New Deal, and the increased commercialization and passivity of leisure, Americans have forgotten why and what they are working for. Summing Up: Recommended." CHOICE Review "Hunnicutt suggests new, valuable ways of thinking about the ways the standard workweek emerged in the United States. It is the first time the question of work hours and the concept of 'Higher Progress' has been articulated over a period spanning more than two hundred years. Hunnicutt's ability to trace the ways this concept changed over time is one of the book's key strengths. Free Time is a unique contribution to labor history." Francis Ryan, author of AFSCME's Philadelphia Story: Municipal Workers and Urban Power in the Twentieth Century About the Author Benjamin Kline Hunnicutt is a Professor of Leisure Studies at the University of Iowa. He is also the author of Kellogg's Six-Hour Day and Work Without End: Abandoning Shorter Hours for the Right to Work (both Temple).    read more about this book