coldhearted scientist وداد

This radio show is about a book I really want to read.

Before modern 24-7 life and constant streetlight, humanity was terrified and transfixed by the mystery of the pure, dark, night. The time after sunset was given over to criminals and demons, night terrors and moonstruck lunatics — the night was a menacing world beyond anyone’s control.

In a new book on the history of night, author Roger Ekirch claims that before modernity, humanity was humbled by the night but also liberated by it. In the dark, men and women cut free of tightly-corseted social convention acted on impulse and desire. Now, Ekirch argues, nighttime has since become the forgotten half of human experience.

Night was scariest in the early modern period. Nowadays, for all intents and purposes, we have no night strictu sensu. This is a loss.

Axé.