Tom Lynch

Author and journalist Barbara Ehrenreich's intriguing and insightful investigation, "Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy," documents the human race's history in social celebration and how it has nearly disappeared over time, but is kept remotely alive by our inner desire to have fun with others. Why are people so attracted to group celebration? Ehrenreich explores its history--from ancient Greece to the beginnings of Christianity--and how the powers-that-be have, for all of documented time, tried to put an end to it, from Protestants enforcing laws against street celebration to European colonizers (i.e., where we came from) pillaging Native dance rituals. This, of course, leads to the rock `n' roll revolution of the 1950s and 1960s, musings on sports culture and uprisings across the globe that have sparked changes in history. Ehrenreich suggests that we are all, in our innate beings, social people, pretty much all looking for a good time. It's that simple and it's not that simple all at once. And if that isn't a hopeful outlook, I don't know what is.

Barbara Ehrenreich discusses "Dancing in the Streets" February 9 at the University of Chicago International House, 1414 East 59th, at 6pm. Free.

(2007-02-06)

Also by Tom Lynch

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