Merry Christmas! : Celebrating America's Greatest Holiday (Hardcover)

by Karal Ann Marling (Author)
Key Phrases: unpaginated plate, showing cover, Santa Claus, New York, Christmas Eve (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Imaginatively researched and strewn with surprising details, this engaging cultural history traces the rise of the consumerism that has become as integral to the celebration of Christmas in the United States as tinsel is to tree trimming. In it, Marling (As Seen on TV) examines every ancillary form of buying, from Christmas gift wrap (which didn't exist before decorated boxes appeared in the late 1870s, followed by mass production of brightly printed paper sheets in the 1920s) to the commercialization of winter greenery in the home (which began in the late 19th century). With a keen eye for cultural diversity (her sections on the construction of African-American Christmas festivities and consumer habits are especially illuminating) and a ready sense of irony, she pierces the sentimental myths surrounding this cultural institution. Ranging from articles in the 19th century magazine Godey's Ladies Book to a statistical analysis of who buys Christmas wrap and a look at the impact of Bing Crosby's recording of "White Christmas" on holiday celebrations, her study, well timed for the coming holidays, will satisfy academic readers as well as general ones. (Dec. 25; on sale date Oct. 20)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"An unexpected trill of a book... -- Beth Kephart, Baltimore Sun

"Combining imagination with solid historical grounding, Marling’s analysis is both erudite and delightful... -- Jeanine Basinger, New York Times Book Review

"Marling notes at the outset that 'the American Christmas has always been more secular than sacred.' -- Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World

"Marling's book is a celebration of plenty, which needn't mean self-satisfied or vulgar. -- Charles Taylor, Newsday

"[A] story of American families and business, stuffed like a red stocking with glittery details, vivid episodes, and eccentric side-trips. -- Scott Alarik, Boston Globe --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (December 25, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674003187
• ISBN-13: 978-0674003187
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #920,640 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marling's "Merry Christmas" Charts Holiday Traditions, January 16, 2001

By	Anthony G Pizza "trivialtony" (FL) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Around Christmas 1983, controversial Philadelphia Daily News columnist Jill Porter semi-humorously theorized in a column that Christ was an invention so we could celebrate Christmas, rather than the reason for the season. The outcry, among the worst any Porter column generated, caused her to spend her next columns backpeddling from that assertion.

Christmas celebrated in its secular, sensory state is a perfect subject for cultural historian and author Karal Ann Marling to tackle. Her books on Elvis Presley, Disney architecture, and the TV-based 1950s culture dove deep in the sweet, shallow end of Americana. She successfully read us the instructions and mission statements behind history's garish, outlandish symbols and sounds, from tail fins to tinsel, seeing links and reasons deepening the meaning of a generation's shared memories.

It's no surprise, then, that "Merry Christmas" is Marling's most personal, well-researched and satisfying book yet. She writes as researcher, scholar, stubborn child (her epilogue on Christmas cookies is a delight, her closing a Santa Claus chapter by chastising "Dear Abby" surprising and funny), and lover of Christmas legends old, new, and rediscovered.

Except for a chapter on 1890s African-American Christmas celebrations (which text and illustrations are among the book's most intriguing chapters and merited such commentary) Marling resists the temptation to debunk or overanalyze her Christmas subjects. She writes with the knowledge, nostalgia, and joy of someone loving the season and wanting to share what she has learned.

Through 370 pages Marling sleigh rides across 150 years' Christmas history (or, better put, "Her"-story; Marling's version emphasizes women's creating and preserving holiday tradition). She explains and provides context for traditions like gift giving and wrapping, huge feasts, Christmas cards, holiday charity (with remarkable photos of a mass dinner for the poor in 1890s New York), department store parades and decorated windows, Christmas plants and trees and glowing with candle or electric light. She also walks through the winter wonderland of Christmas heroes real and imagined: Scrooge, Bing Crosby, Grinch and of course, Santa Claus as described by Thomas Nast, Coca-Cola, and the dreams of generations of children worldwide.

Marling does nearly all of this through the distant eye of media: magazine articles covers (touching on Norman Rockwell and J.P. Leyendecker with Nast),TV and movie screens, (yearly specials and songs restoring Christmas' homey, familial warmth) children's books (long-neglected holiday tales from Washington Irving and L.Frank Baum -- Baum's a Santa biography! - may get new attention after being described here). Even 100 years of department store Christmas windows (which Marling describes with delicious detail) show not only from behind a economic glass impenetrable to the poor, but from an idealized Christmas past few Americans enjoyed entirely.

That is Marling's point. If the night of the dear Savior's birth connects only dimly with America's celebration (a point Marling needed to cover sooner and harder)it may stem from Christ's birth being the most documentable story of the season. As Marling burrows through Clement Clark Moore poems and 19th century magazine stories through films like Crosby's "Holiday Inn" and "White Christmas," the seasons' backstory and memory bank grows and artificially glows until the Star of Bethlehem is outglowered by images of Chevy Chase and Liberace's garish Christmas decorations. The Nativity is one true, gritty, essential Christmas story surrounded by layers of fantasy. Marling's paralleling Joan Crawford's public, radio-broadcast Christmas to her cruel, well-publicized private one, antidotes the more sugary memories here, as do quotes from J.D. Salinger's "Catcher In The Rye" and from Elvis Presley's "notorious" 1957 Christmas LP.

Those bemoaning the season's commercialism may find comfort and joy in "Merry Christmas." Marling traces protests against the holiday's economic emphasis to the 1820s; since, everything from billboard campaigns to TV's "Charlie Brown Christmas" and "The Grinch" to the rise in more personalized and religious Christmas cards have addressed that conflict. Those rejecting supplemental Christmas traditions entirely (from 1870s Puritan factories and schools open Christmas Day to Michael Jackson, profiled at Christmas in a magazine although he did not celebrate the holiday) will be disheartened by their growth and acceptance, and Marling's tacit approval.

No protest over purpose diminishes the quality and scope of Marling's work, among the most essential books ever written about the Christmas season. Marling closes her prologue by saying, "Incidentally, this book would make a good present for your mom!" Matronly, perhaps, but I liked it too; like any good, factual story with a happy ending, "Merry Christmas" is as welcome a Christmas re-read as any Christmas tradition it charts. I look forward to her next project.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Equal parts nostalgia and scholarship, but entertaining from start to finish, December 24, 2005

By	Odysseus "A Traveller" (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

I must admit to being rather shocked that two of this book's few reviews are so negative. I adored this book, and found something to savor on almost every page. This is one of those books to curl up with on a quiet evening during the holiday season, and to enjoy during those moments of perfect contentment.

Marling's book devotes a chapter to the history of each of various Christmas traditions. For example, the first chapter covers the history of gift wrapping, including the wrapping paper and the bows. The second chapter covers the history of various Christmas decorations: toy villages, christmas lights, and ornaments. A very fine chapter discusses the history of the Macy's window displays. Another details the evolution of advertising images of Santa Claus. And there are many more.

What distinguishes Marling's writing is an undisguised affection for her subject. She is the furthest thing from a pedantic scholar; rather, she wants readers to know and to appreciate how Christmas was enjoyed by previous generations, and how our current traditions came to be.

The commercialism of Christmas is often decried; but Marling appreciates the positive aspects of that commercialism. The inevitable truth is that many of the things that bring us joy at Christmastime -- shiny ornaments, enticing packages, department store Santas -- exist because someone is trying to make a buck. But if someone makes the world a happier, more festive place in that effort, isn't that something to be celebrated? The chapter on the Macy's window displays is a classic example; while Marling doesn't gloss over the commercial purpose of these displays, she also conveys the reality that both children and adults walking by found enchantment in them.

Our current Christmas remains a blend of seasonal, religious, and commercial elements, and many of the commercial elements help to embed the holiday in the memories of both children and former children. The scent of a tree, the sight of a wreath, the feel of a package shaken curiously before the big day, all of these things have the power to make us children again.

Marling gets this. In her postcript about the Christmas cookie tradition, she writes: "I cannot smell a lemon, or see a frosted and decorated cookie in a bakery window, without thinking of Christmas, and home, and the people that I love. . . . without being nine or ten again, in a warm kitchen on a snowy day, standing in a magical shower of powdered sugar that dances in the light."

Just as Marling celebrates her own Christmas traditions, she studies and respects the traditions of others who have gone before all of us.

In analyzing why this book received some negative reviews below, the only thing I can think of is that it may occupy a place that some readers find awkard: neither a heavy scholarly tome, nor a light fluffy nostaglic picture book. But it's better than either; Marling delves deeply into her subject, combining the lively writing style of a nostalgia book with the substantive content of a history book. It's a delightful combination, and I give it a strong five stars.

4.0 out of 5 stars It depends on what you are seeking., January 27, 2009

By	Fahtimah (Richmond, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Merry Christmas!: Celebrating Americas Greatest Holiday (Paperback)

If ever there was a book which treated Christmas as a dry, historical narrative,this is it. Very well written, with insights I had never considered, it is not going to make some people happy because it is so academic.

The details and chronology throughout the history of Christmas were fascinating, although she cannot seem to help making personal commentaries. This was especially frequent in Chapter 7 where she lingered far too long with far too many commentaries on the "Black Christmas" experience. While I found the chapter thought provoking, I could have done without all the soap box.

If you are truly interested in the history of various Christmas traditions and their evolution, this is the book for you - dry, but detailed.

If you are more interested in beautiful pictures and fluff (I have MANY like that)you should probably pass.