The first interdisciplinary history of sleep. Humans spend a third of their lives sleeping. But how does one sleep "correctly"? This volume presents, for the first time, a history of sleep that brings together the perspectives of historians, literary scholars, anthropologists, and medical professionals. The authors discuss how the perception, evaluation, and organization of sleep have changed from the late 18th century to the 20th century. They illustrate how modern societies attempted to gain control over sleep and integrate it into a rationalized world. However, they also depict sleep as a time that continually eluded control and rationalization, thus serving as a bastion against the demands and impositions of modernity.