Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
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 $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Free Time  By  cover art

Free Time

By: Benjamin Hunnicutt
Narrated by: Donald H. Beckwith
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.95

Buy for $24.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Has the "American Dream" become an unrealistic utopian fantasy, or have we simply forgotten what we are working for? In his topical audiobook, Free Time, Benjamin Kline Hunnicutt examines the way that progress, once defined as more of the good things in life as well as more free time to enjoy them, has come to be understood only as economic growth and more work, forevermore. Hunnicutt provides an incisive intellectual, cultural, and political history of the original "American Dream" from the colonial days to the present.

Taking his cue from Walt Whitman's "higher progress," he follows the traces of that dream, cataloguing the myriad voices that prepared for and lived in an opening "realm of freedom." Free Time reminds Americans of the forgotten, best part of the "American Dream" - that more and more of our lives might be lived freely, with an enriching family life, with more time to enjoy nature, friendship, and the adventures of the mind and of the spirit. Benjamin Kline Hunnicutt is a Professor of Leisure Studies at the University of Iowa.

He is also the author of Kellogg's Six-Hour Day and Work Without End: Abandoning Shorter Hours for the Right to Work (both Temple).

©2013 Temple University (P)2014 Redwood Audiobooks
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

"I had a hard time putting Free Time down." (John Buell, author of Politics, Religion, and Culture in an Anxious Age)
" Free Time is a unique contribution to labor history." (Francis Ryan, author of AFSCME's Philadelphia Story)
"Offers a chronological description of the developments that have, over time, stymied our pursuit of the 'American Dream.' Hunnicutt's tenacious, years-long dedication to this topic is impressive." ( Library Journal)

More from the same

Narrator

What listeners say about Free Time

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Listen at 1.2x speed

Amazing historical narration of the Constant struggle between work, leisure, class and who has the right to free time. Be aware of this book largely ignores BIPOC issues, slavery etc. It breaks down the western / European / colonial / American overarching perspective / struggle to balance work and leisure, but overall it is a great read, to understand the macro issues, facing our society for hundreds of years.

My only critique is that The author speaks very slowly, and I highly recommend listening at 1.2 speed.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing research very clearly expressed

I'll be thinking about things I heard here every day for a long time.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Timely critique of working to avoid leisure

Very well written and narrated. I hope my followers find the time to listen to this audio if they believe in revitalizing ideologies of leisure.

Historical coverage and very relevant comparisons given to contemporary materialism with its endless production of more stuff -- wherein insistent demands are made on the work slave's time.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful