The Trouble with Christmas [Paperback]

Tom Flynn (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 1, 1992

"The Trouble With Christmas" demonstrates that America's most popular holiday is not for everyone. Author Tom Flynn slays America's most popular sacred cow by arguing that Jews and atheists tolerated Christmas too passively solely in exchange for social acceptance. Members of faster-growing religious minorities will be less accommodating. Flynn believes that Christmas traditions must be redefined. He probes the festival's largely non-Christian origins, dissects the Nativity myth, delves into the legend of St. Nicholas, and frankly discusses his own experiences in giving up the holiday.Despite ancient roots, Flynn argues that the modern-day Christmas celebration is a very recent development, primarily the work of a half-dozen modern Victorian Anglophiles. Perhaps most controversially, he re-opens inquiry into the Santa Claus myth and concludes that belief in Santa harms the young. Christmas confrontations in schoolrooms, city halls, and public parks will worsen, Flynn warns, until we abandon our preoccupation with Christmas as a universal feast. Down-sizing the holiday would come as a relief to Christians and non-celebrants alike.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Flynn, the associate editor of Free Inquiry and an avowed atheist, has written an argument for the downsizing of Christmas as a national holiday in view of the diverse nature of America's population. Providing extensive footnotes, Flynn devotes approximately half of this work to dispelling any "fond notions" anyone may have about Christmas, from Jesus and Santa to Christmas trees to poinsettias. The second portion of the book, which deals with the difficulties of celebrating Christmas in a democratic, multicultural society, raises an important issue: There are many who choose not to celebrate Christmas; thus, continuing to expect everyone to participate in or be tolerant of a religious holiday in which they do not believe is unrealistic and undemocratic. Flynn's point is valid, but a better alternative to reducing the holiday might be to educate those who observe it in the needs and concerns of those who do not.
- Joanna M. Thompson, Bluefield State Coll. , Bluefield, W. Va.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (March 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879758481
• ISBN-13: 978-0879758486
• Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 5.9 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,062,429 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 43 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Antidote to End of Year Madness August 13, 1997

By Elaine Carlson ([e-mail])

Format:Paperback

Santa Claus and his reindeer, Christmas trees and cards, exchanging presents and so on and on. It is good to have in one place a history of all of these diverse elements of the Christmas tradition. Tom Flynn covers a lot of ground and he writes well so this is a fun book to read.

The book is even better in presenting the argument against the holiday and describing the "Trouble With Christmas." He demoans the arrogance of adopting a holiday of one religion as a secular holiday in a country that is home to people who have many different religions.

Last week when I was watching television I saw the ad the Hallmark Company ran urging people to buy their Christmas tree ornaments. And as I write this review the middle of August has not even come so I know the Christmas season will be in full swing soon. I suggest to others that indeed it is not too early to start preparing for the Christmas season by getting this book.

The author presents a good case for having a Christmas free end of the year.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't listen to the previous reviewer! November 16, 2006

By Stony

Format:Paperback

Flynn's book "The Trouble with Christmas" is a very well-research and informative work that presents an intelligent investigation into the celebration of the Christmas holiday. Mr. Flynn is not a "bah, humbug" as the previous reviewer noted; he is a rational, intelligent individual who asks important questions about the yuletide holiday. His inquiry explores the supposed "historical" roots (pointing out that most of what we celebrate originated in the middle-to-late 1800's, not antiquity). He examines the origins of many xmas symbols (the yule log, Santa, the tree) and relays a wealth of information on about them.

Plus, he is sympathetic to those who may not be of Christian origin and asks his reader to consider what it must be like for say, a Jew or a Muslim or an atheist, to have to endure another's holiday and to have to endure scorn and negativity from those (probably like the previous reviewer) who cannot understand why everyone just doesn't celebrate Christmas too.

27 of 34 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Grouchy Christians and Weary, Walked-Upon Atheists Unite! December 24, 2002

By Mark E. Morelli

Format:Paperback

Just as the old ad slogan goes, You don't have to be Jewish to enjoy Levy's Rye Bread . . . I say: You don't have to be atheist to enjoy this wonderful diatribe against the hokum that had grown clogged and weedy around what was once a simple, reflective religious day of remembrance. Christians are enriched by reading of the non-Christian origins of modern Christmas customs. I for one am fed up with the glut of consumerism that has buried the holiday and if Flynn served only as a whistleblower to the holiday's excess, this book would be good enough. But Flynn also writes from the atheists point of view, an amiable atheist at that, and he has this practicing Catholic on his side as one who decries those condescing, oppressing people who poo-poo anyone who doesn't get all visions-of-sugarplumsy at the thought of Christmas. I read this year (2002) that Christmas is catching fire in China with nary a mention of Christ. They just dig the gift giving and the clown in the red suit and if Americans were more honest, we'd happily echo the words of Bart Simpson, who said something like: "Let's remember the true meaning of Christmas...the birthday of Santa Claus."

Flynn reminds us that our egotistical view of the holiday -- that it "our" Christmas was the way it always was -- is a myth. In just a blip of history ago, Christmas was a holy day and a humbler day. I long for a return in that direction, and Flynn's book refreshes my overview of the holiday. It consoles me that much of it is hogwash and that I oughtn't feel to glum about feeling glum about it.