All work and no play. Many historians see society this way.

Gary Cross, associate professor of history, will present a speech titled "After Working Hours: Trends in the History of the Leisure of Labor" at 4 p.m. today in the Rare Book Room at Pattee.

"Historians too long assumed that time after working hours is trivial or private; but leisure time is key to how we define ourselves, and has changed dramatically over time," Cross said.

"As leisure has become a noticeable aspect of our lives, it is important to look at it in it's historical perspective to see how it has developed and how it has changed to see where we are going and how we will handle it in the future," said Peter Gottlieb, assistant professor of labor studies and industrial relations and founder of the Social History Colloquim.

The organization of leisure space and time is often a major political issue, playing a key role in debates over the length of the work week or the location of parks, Cross said.

Cross is one of the leading social historians in the United States studying leisure.

"Cross' new book A Social History of Labor Since 1600, will break new ground in understanding how the role of leisure has evolved over the last 350 years," said Geoffrey Godbey, a professor of leisure studies.

Cross graduated from Washington State University, earning his master's in divinity from Harvard University, and his doctorate degrees and master of arts from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

He is also the author of A Quest for Time: The Reduction of Work in Britain and France, 1840-1940, and Worktowners at Blackpool: Mass-Observation and Popular Culture in the 1930s.'