Cultures of Darkness: Night Travels in the Histories of Transgression

""The night is different, its opposition to day marked by darkness and danger... [B]ut its fears are balanced by its freedoms,"" begins this enthralling and important trans-historical study of the metaphoric and actual meaning of night cultures. Palmer's canvas is hugeDit 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 cultureDyet 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. The underlying theme here is not simply that ""night"" offers the occasional transgressive respite from the orderly civilization of ""day,"" but that these alternative social, political and artistic spaces are often where the impetus for social change begins. Palmer's bold theme is sustained by his ability to communicate his in-depth, far-ranging scholarship with a broad political vision, which is Marxist in origins but tempered by postmodernism, and by his accessible and highly entertaining writing style. (Feb.)