audiobook Carnage and Connectivity: Landmarks in the Decline of Conventional Military Power by David Betz in History

Description

An Anglican priest hands out brass knuckles to his congregation; preparing to battle anti-Christmas fanatics. Fascists insist that the Winter Solstice is the real Christmas; while Communists stage atheist musicals outside of churches on Christmas Eve. Activists vandalize shops that start touting the holiday in October and anti-consumerists sing parody carols in shopping malls. Is there a war on Christmas? As Gerry Bowler demonstrates in Christmas in the Crosshairs; there is and always has been a war; or several wars; on Christmas. A cherished global phenomenon; Christmas is the biggest single event on the planet. For Christians it is the second-most sacred date on the calendar; but it also engages billions of people who are caught up in its commercialism; music; sentiment; travel; and frenetic busyness. Since its controversial invention in the Roman Empire; Christmas has struggled with paganism; popular culture; and fierce Christian opposition; faced abolition in Scotland and New England; and braved neglect and near-death in the 1700s; only to be miraculously reinvented in the 1800s. The twentieth century saw it banned by Bolsheviks and twisted by Nazis. Since then; special interest groups of every stripe have used the holiday's massive popularity to draw attention to their causes. Christmas in the Crosshairs tells the story of the tug-of-war over Christmas; replete with cross-dressing priests; ranting Puritans; and atheist witches. In this eye-opening history of Christmas and its opponents from the beginning up to the present day; Bowler gives us a shocking; and richly entertaining; new look at the tradition we thought we knew so well.