Dancing in the Streets (2007)

As she surveys the history of revelry from Dionysian rituals to carnival in Dancing in the Streets, Barbara Ehrenreich ponders, ''If ecstatic rituals and festivities were once so widespread, why is so little of them left today?'' One reason, she says, is they're incompatible with many major religions. The few recent examples she finds include '60s rock concerts (before security tamed unruly crowds) and sports events (but, as she notes, many stadiums have priced out the working class who created ''festive fandom''). Though less accessible than Nickel and Dimed, this scholarly work is a terrific counterpart to Blood Rites, her cultural history of war.