Written for everyone who loves and is simultaneously driven crazy by the holiday season; Christmas: A Candid History provides an enlightening; entertaining perspective on how the annual Yuletide celebration got to be what it is today. In a fascinating; concise tour through history; the book tells the story of Christmas—from its pre-Christian roots; through the birth of Jesus; to the holiday's spread across Europe into the Americas and beyond; and to its mind-boggling transformation through modern consumerism. Packed with intriguing stories; based on research into myriad sources; full of insights; the book explores the historical origins of traditions including Santa; the reindeer; gift giving; the Christmas tree; Christmas songs and movies; and more. The book also offers some provocative ideas for reclaiming the joy and meaning of this beloved; yet often frustrating; season amid the pressures of our fast-paced consumer culture.DID YOU KNOWFor three centuries Christians did not celebrate Christmas?Puritans in England and New England made Christmas observances illegal?St. Nicholas is an elf in the famous poem "The Night Before Christmas"?President Franklin Roosevelt changed the dateof Thanksgiving in order to lengthen the Christmas shopping season?Coca-Cola helped fashion Santa Claus's look in an advertising campaign?
#1225921 in Books S D Goitein 2003-12-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.98 x 1.25 x 5.96l; 1.58 #File Name: 0520240596525 pagesA Mediterranean Society An Abridgment in One Volume
Review
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful. A rare view into another worldBy John G. BennettThis is on the one hand a relatively specialized book. It is a condensation of a purely scholarly work which originally filled 5 volumes; and which in turn was distilled from tens of thousands of fragments of documents dating from old Cairo; between about 970 CE and 1250 CE. Prof. Goitein made it his life work to turn these fragments into a coherent picture.What makes it mesmerizing for a layman like me is the rich view into another way of life. A life where every ordinary thing - family; love; commerce; property; religion; law; travel; taxes; education; slavery; ambition; scholarship - it all just comes together differently. The documents are not merely made coherent; but you come to appreciate how; and why; people 1;000 years ago organized their society and themselves to survive and prosper in a difficult; closed; and risky world. When you finish you will have a new insight into not just the world of antiquity; but some societies even today where the social norms resemble old Cairo more than they do the western tradition. Still alien to me; but less incomprehensible.1 of 6 people found the following review helpful. Goitein condencedBy Peter EllingerThoutough but boring. Still; you can find in it information needed; for instance on figures like Ibn Ezra and Maimonides.
