Doing Nothing A History Of Loafers Loungers Slackers & Bums in America

From the author of Crying, a witty, wide-ranging cultural history of our attitudes toward work — and getting out of it.

Couch potatoes, goof-offs, freeloaders, good-for-nothings, loafers, and loungers: ever since the Industrial Revolution, when the work ethic as we know it was formed, there has been a chorus of slackers ridiculing and lampooning the pretensions of hardworking respectability. Reviled by many, heroes to others, these layabouts stretch and yawn while the rest of society worries and sweats. Whenever the world of labor changes in significant ways, the pulpits, politicians, and pedagogues ring with exhortations of the value of work, and the slackers answer with a strenuous call of their own: "To do nothing," as Oscar Wilde said, "is the most difficult thing in the world." From Benjamin Franklin's air baths to Jack Kerouac's dharma bums, Generation-X slackers, and beyond, anti-work-ethic proponents have held a central place in modern culture.

Moving with verve and wit through a series of fascinating case studies that illuminate the changing place of leisure in the American republic, Doing Nothing revises the way we understand slackers and work itself.

"Given his subject, it's perhaps fitting that Lutz rambles on at a slacker-like pace as he traces the rise of this lovable if exasperating cultural type." Los Angeles Times

"Though a serious study of spongers, this wry book is fun to read. With layabouts such as Theodore Dreiser, the Beats, and our epoch's own Anna Nicole Simpson on offer, cultural-history mavens won't be able to pass Lutz up." Booklist

"[Full] of supporting cultural and historical references, this is an entertaining, enlightening, and engaging history." Library Journal

"[Lutz's] incredibly engaging and offbeat meditation on the history of the American work ethic and its development over the past few centuries, and the various counter movements that have arisen to challenge it." Denver Post

"A thoughtful and very thorough author... [Doing Nothing] left me with a deeper appreciation for the value of not working. In fact, I wish I could do more of it. Alas, I cannot: these toenails aren't going to clip themselves." Dave Barry, New York Times Book Review

"Like Lutz's brilliant study of weeping, Crying: A Natural and Cultural History of Tears, Doing Nothing is a highly intelligent, stimulatingly eclectic, and impressively learned book.... A fascinating social history of the changing face of work and the wildly varying rebellious responses to it." Gary Kamiya, Salon.com

"Razor-sharp analysis and a thoughtful argument — that antipathy toward employment is often a reaction to changing societal norms rather than an aversion to work itself — make for a surprisingly lively read." Washington Post

"A superbly detailed analysis of how our culture has reflected on these issues throughout time. Each historical period — from the first machines of the Agricultural Revolution, through the Industrial Revolution, through two World Wars and up through the dotcom '90s — is carefully examined.... The questions it raises will remain the topic of serious discussion for many years to come." Christian Science Monitor

"[A] fascinating — although at times also frustrating — analysis of both workers and slackers throughout the past 250 years of Anglo-American history....[D]espite occasional slowdowns, the journey this book allows us to make is well worth taking. The questions it raises will remain the topic of serious discussion for many years to come." Larry Sears, The Christian Science Monitor (read the entire Christian Science Monitor review)

Couch potatoes, goof-offs, freeloaders, good-for-nothings, loafers, and loungers: ever since the Industrial Revolution, when the work ethic as we know it was formed, there has been a chorus of slackers ridiculing and lampooning the pretensions of hardworking respectability. Whenever the world of labor changes in significant ways, the pulpits, politicians, and pedagogues ring with exhortations of the value of work, and the slackers answer with a strenuous call of their own: "To do nothing," as Oscar Wilde said, "is the most difficult thing in the world."

Moving with verve and wit through a series of case studies that illuminate the changing place of leisure in the American republic, Doing Nothing revises the way we understand slackers and work itself.

Tom Lutz's previous books include Crying: A Natural and Cultural History of Tears; American Nervousness, 1903: An Anecdotal History; and Cosmopolitan Vistas. He lives in Los Angeles.