{"product_id":"spring-forward-isbn-9781582434957","title":"Spring Forward","description":"Michael Downing is obsessed with Daylight Saving, the loopy idea that became the most persistent political controversy in American history. Almost one hundred years after Congressmen and lawmakers in every state first debated, ridiculed, and then passionately embraced the possibility of saving an hour of daylight, no one can say for sure why we are required by law to change our clocks twice a year. Who first proposed the scheme? The most authoritative sources agree it was a Pittsburgh industrialist, Woodrow Wilson, a man on a horse in London, a Manhattan socialite, Benjamin Franklin, one of the Caesars, or the anonymous makers of ancient Chinese and Japanese water clocks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eSpring Forward\u003c\/i\u003e is a portrait of public policy in the 20th century, a perennially boiling cauldron of unsubstantiated science, profiteering masked as piety, and mysteriously shifting time–zone boundaries. It is a true–to–life social comedy with Congress in the leading role, surrounded by a supporting cast of opportunistic ministers, movie moguls, stockbrokers, labor leaders, sports fanatics, and railroad execs.“While the history is awash in tedious legislative minutiae, Downing brings it to life by dramatizing politicians and various industries pitted against one another in absurd, often hilarious debates. It's a colorful story of something we all take to be fundamental, but through history has been maddening, divisive and baffling.”—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Novelist Downing writes gracefully, with a penchant for the strange detail, and he draws much mirth from the facts about [daylight savings time] and its amorphous benefits.”—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eMichael Downing\u003c\/b\u003e's novels include the national bestseller \u003ci\u003ePerfect Agreement\u003c\/i\u003e, named one of the 10 Best Books of the year by Amazon and \u003ci\u003eNewsday\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eBreakfast with Scot\u003c\/i\u003e, a comedy about two gay men who inadvertently become parents. An American Library Association honor book, \u003ci\u003eBreakfast with Scot\u003c\/i\u003e was adapted as a movie that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. His nonfiction includes \u003ci\u003eShoes Outside the Door: Desire, Devotion, and Excess at San Francisco Zen Center\u003c\/i\u003e, hailed by the \u003ci\u003eNew York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e as a \"dramatic and insightful\" narrative history of the first Buddhist monastery outside of Asia, and by the \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e as \"a highly readable book.\" His essays and reviews appear in the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, and other periodicals. Michael teaches creative writing at Tufts University. He and his partner have lived together in Cambridge for more than 25 years.","brand":"Counterpoint","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304139018469,"sku":"NP9781582434957","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781582434957.jpg?v=1767737131","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/spring-forward-isbn-9781582434957","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}