Dancing in the Streets cover art

Dancing in the Streets

A History of Collective Joy

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

€0.00/month for the first 3 months
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

Dancing in the Streets

By: Barbara Ehrenreich
Narrated by: Pam Ward
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

 From best-selling social commentator and cultural historian Barbara Ehrenreich comes this fascinating exploration of one of humanity's oldest traditions: the celebration of communal joy, historically expressed in ecstatic revels of feasting, costuming, and dancing.

Ehrenreich uncovers the origins of communal celebration in human biology and culture, showing that such mass festivities have been indigenous to the West since the ancient Greeks. Though suppressed by elites who fear the undermining of social hierarchies, outbreaks of group revelry still persist, Ehrenreich shows, pointing to the 1960s rock-and-roll rebellion and the more recent "carnivalization" of sports.

Original, exhilarating, and deeply optimistic, Dancing in the Streets shows that we are innately social beings, impelled to share our joy and thereby envision a peaceable future.

©2006 Barbara Ehrenreich (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc. Americas Ancient Anthropology Customs & Traditions Europe Social Sciences World Tradition

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Dance Your Way Home cover art
The Flowering Wand cover art
On Connection cover art
Witches, Witch-Hunting, and Women cover art
When Things Fall Apart cover art
Modern Nature cover art
Less Is More cover art
Soulcraft cover art
The Wisdom of Insecurity cover art
Save the Cat! cover art
Avocado Anxiety cover art
Emergent Strategy cover art
Divergent Mind cover art

Critic reviews

"A serious look at communal celebrations, well documented and presented with assurance and flair." ( Kirkus Reviews)
"Ehrenreich writes with grace and clarity in a fascinating, wide-ranging, and generous account." ( Publishers Weekly)
All stars
Most relevant  
A rare gem that somehow got into the free catalogue. I am a student of Anthropology and I wish I had found this years ago. It isn't overly academic and the narration is great. Highly recommended for everyone who wants to learn more about our society and how we as the humankind have always needed dancing and festivities in our lives

Fantastic!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Really interesting, well researched, beautifully stated message about the importance of ecstatic dance throughout history and the loss we have experienced due to it's repression and decline.

Fascinating!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It’s a really fascinating broad brushstroke account of history from the ancient Greeks to late 20th century through the specific lens of “collective joy,” which is people gathering together in celebration and festivity, NOT merely being an audience member but a participant. I think if anyone reading this review feels that all they do is work & do chores & consequently wonder if there is more to life than this, this book will be an interesting read. It’s almost impossible to imagine the amount of festivity our society enjoyed before the industrial revolution. I hope it comes back!

Read this book if you are fed up with the 9-5

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I found this very interesting, but a little dry. Thought provoking connections and parallels between Dyonysis and rock stars, saturnalia and sports, but ultimately didn’t make me want to go out and dance in the street.

Interesting study of group ecstatic experiences

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
…some curious omissions. There was nothing about dance culture (soul, disco, rave etc) and some of the historical sections were definitely laboured. There are some fascinating sections and this is worth a listen but I feel it could and should have been better

Interesting sections but…

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.