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Product Details
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press (December 5, 1996)
A great read about history of Christmas Holidays for those serious about the topic. Not for those looking for a Martha Stewart type of Christmas decoration instruction ( nothing wrong with tha t) - this stuff is serious reading but a joy to have for those really into the history of the holiday.
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Excellent historical look at the development of Christmas in the United States as a national holiday. The author largely concentrates on the 19th century but uncovers a wealth of information that will make you think differently about how Christmas became so - everything. Highly recommended.
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At the time of writing this 1995 book, Penne Restad was a lecturer in American History of the University of Texas at Austin.
She writes in the Foreword, "Christmas in America attempts to chart the evolution of our Christmas from its colonial days, when the marks of religion and region were most distinct, to its incarnation by media and money in the twentieth century. For the most part, this book concentrates on events and conditions of the nineteenth century that have indelibly shaped the Christmas we keep and the attitudes we hold about it. It emphasizes the elastic and ever-changing nature of the American calendar and its holidays, as well as the interaction of political, social, economic, and religious realms. It seeks to analyze rather than moralize the issues of materialism and gift-giving, and to bring new insights to such familiar elements of the festival as trees, cards, and Santa. Ultimately, it wills the reader to understand Christmas through the lens of history and, through Christmas, the ambiguities and paradoxes of our culture."
Here are some other quotations from the book:
"Rome's Christians challenged paganism directly by specifying December 25, rather than some other date, as the day for their Nativity Feast." (Pg. 4) "It fell to Puritan reformers to put a stop to the unholy merriment and to bend arguments over the proper keeping of Christmas into an older and more basic one---whether there should even be an observance of the day. Defying the decision of the Anglican Convocation of 1562 to maintain the church calendar, the Puritans struck Christmas, along with all saints' says, from their own list of holy days." (Pg. 7) "At least some Christians had been bringing trees into their homes since the Reformation.Read more ›
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This book covers a wonderful range of topics, with seemingly accurate information, that is both interesting and historical. Plus, it is organized in a logical, easy to access format.
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Restad is an outstanding social historian and has done an admirable job with her sweeping study of the evolution of the American Christmas. It does seem to have a rushed feel to its ending and is arguably somewhat less of a tour de force than Stephen Nissenbaum' s "The Battle for Christmas" which I would personally recommend. Nissenbaum' s exhaustive study of individual diaries, journals and almanacs provides a more satisfying cross section of the rapid change in the perception of Christmas, often within a single lifetime, for a more coherent narrative. However, this book certainly should not be overlooked as a strong source for the inquisitive Christmas keeper.
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