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Up All Night: A World History of Nightlife
Not yet published
Expected 14 Jul 26From the glamorous depravity of Studio 54 to the underground cabarets of Weimar Berlin, from Georgian London’s gaudy pleasure gardens to techno’s beginnings in post-industrial Detroit, a brilliantly researched and celebratory history of nightlife, showing the fascinating and underappreciated evolution of how humans have gone out after dark
There is a specific energy to a Saturday night. Cafés and shops close their shutters. Market traders dismantle their wares. “The air begins to tingle”, as John Dos Passos wrote about ’20s New York. “If you drink enough, talk enough, walk far enough, the train of magical events will begin.”
Nightlife began in the 17th century, when Edo and London built commercial environments designed for after-dark hedonism. Since then, nightlife has been at the frontier of popular culture and self-expression. It has defined cities and generations, bred moral panics and iconic countercultures, and gone from demimonde to global phenomenon, yet its sweeping history has been left untold.
Up All Night provides a guided tour of history’s most captivating nights out—from the luxurious pleasure quarters of samurai-era Japan to the saloons of turn-of-the-century New Orleans and the speakeasies of twenties Harlem. Whisking readers through underground dives, mega-clubs, raves and experimental cabarets, cultural historian Imogen Willetts takes us behind the velvet rope of history's hottest nightspots to show how they changed the world around us.
There is a specific energy to a Saturday night. Cafés and shops close their shutters. Market traders dismantle their wares. “The air begins to tingle”, as John Dos Passos wrote about ’20s New York. “If you drink enough, talk enough, walk far enough, the train of magical events will begin.”
Nightlife began in the 17th century, when Edo and London built commercial environments designed for after-dark hedonism. Since then, nightlife has been at the frontier of popular culture and self-expression. It has defined cities and generations, bred moral panics and iconic countercultures, and gone from demimonde to global phenomenon, yet its sweeping history has been left untold.
Up All Night provides a guided tour of history’s most captivating nights out—from the luxurious pleasure quarters of samurai-era Japan to the saloons of turn-of-the-century New Orleans and the speakeasies of twenties Harlem. Whisking readers through underground dives, mega-clubs, raves and experimental cabarets, cultural historian Imogen Willetts takes us behind the velvet rope of history's hottest nightspots to show how they changed the world around us.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
384 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication July 14, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 29, 2026
Received a free advance copy of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway.
I picked up Up All Night expecting to learn a little about nightlife, but I ended up completely hooked. Imogen Willetts has a way of making history feel fun, accessible, and surprisingly relatable. Every chapter introduced something new, and I found myself constantly sharing random facts with whoever happened to be nearby. I highly recommend!
I picked up Up All Night expecting to learn a little about nightlife, but I ended up completely hooked. Imogen Willetts has a way of making history feel fun, accessible, and surprisingly relatable. Every chapter introduced something new, and I found myself constantly sharing random facts with whoever happened to be nearby. I highly recommend!
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February 12, 2026review text for 1400
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews