Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
Christmas: A Candid History
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 Jes...more
Hardcover, 187 pages
Published
October 10th 2007
by University of California Press
(first published September 10th 2007)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
144)
This short book gives a fairly thorough overview of the history of Christmas. If you have read any of the annual articles about Christmas and its history, you'll likely have heard some (but not all!) of what Forbes mentions. Forbes does a good job of showing how Christmas, even though a Christian holiday, has always co-existed, often uneasily, with non-religious celebrations.
Perhaps the most surprising thing I learned was that Christmas as we know it is just as manufactured a holiday as modern...more
Perhaps the most surprising thing I learned was that Christmas as we know it is just as manufactured a holiday as modern...more
I saw this book at the bookstore and thought it looked interesting. Forbes is a theology professor. This is not an in-depth history of Christmas, but rather a general taste of how our Christmas customs and traditions came to be--especially in England and the United States.
This was a fascinating read. I knew that many of our traditions stemmed from pagan rituals, however I didn't realize how recent the enormous popularity of Christmas came to be. It really did not become an important religious or...more
This was a fascinating read. I knew that many of our traditions stemmed from pagan rituals, however I didn't realize how recent the enormous popularity of Christmas came to be. It really did not become an important religious or...more
It was fascinating to learn that the early Christian church did not celebrate Jesus' birth. Early Christianity was, according to Mr. Forbes, “an Easter-centered religion” which focused on the death and resurrection of Christ. In fact, Origen, an influential early Christian writer, roundly condemned the recognition of birthdays. After all, the Bible records that both Pharaoh and Herod, hardly paragons of virtue, celebrated their birthdays in nefarious ways – the Pharaoh killed his chief baker whi...more
Liked it a lot. Occasionally it read like a textbook but it was all about history anyway and I learned a lot. Will be a little more forgiving of others' non-traditional (non-spiritual) festivities since almost all of ours (except the Nativity and "Happy Birthday, Jesus" cake) are taken from pagan winter festivals. The idea of Christmas "snowballing" down a hill and picking up different items along the way was very interesting. I recommend it!
An engagingly written history of how Christmas became the holiday it is, from its pagan roots in the Roman empire and northern Europe, through its transformations in the 19th and 20th centuries. Thesis: Christmas is the modern face of age-old mid-winter festivals and has always been a difficult celebration to Christianize. I would recommend this over most such histories I've read; and it has a particularly useful annotated bibliography.
I really enjoyed this book. This is a quick overview to a social history of Christmas celebrations, mostly in America but not limited to that. The author's attitude is lighthearted yet fascinated, and his Christian outlook does not negate the fact that other faiths can read this and find it helpful and interesting.
He has a great bibliography for anyone wanting to go further. He recommends, as I do, Nissenbaum's BATTLE FOR CHRISTMAS, among others.
I really appreciated his chapter on "Wrestling Wit...more
He has a great bibliography for anyone wanting to go further. He recommends, as I do, Nissenbaum's BATTLE FOR CHRISTMAS, among others.
I really appreciated his chapter on "Wrestling Wit...more
If you, like I, have wondered just what Christmas is really all about, then Christmas: A Candid History is what might explain it for you. How did we get to where we are in this major holiday celebration? Is it really all about the birth of Jesus Christ? What about all these presents, the wrapping paper, the cards? I recommend this book for answers. It is easy to read and worth the time.
I've been reading Christmas origin books to help me write better letters from Santa Claus, and this one is really good. It is so well researched, but not dry at all. I love learning about why we celebrate the way we do. How most of our traditions are from pre-Christian mid-winter festivals that we just can't let go. It just amazes me that so much of what we do in many holidays goes back to ancient Rome.
There really wasn't anything in here I didn't already know, and on one of the very last pages there was a quote that SERIOUSLY pissed me off. I try to put that aside though, because it was a pretty concise history nicely put together. The author did have a bit of a Christian bias but he tried his best to hide it and he did a pretty good job up until the end there.
This is truly more of a 3.5 star rating. I loved it. The book told a grand history about origins of so many Christmas traditions both Christian and pagan. The author is a Christian, but you really can't tell until the last chapter of the book. It was a pretty unbiased and excellent documentation of things such as Saturnalia, St. Nicholas, and the birth of Christ. It was something I wanted everyone to know about. If only they knew about Christmas trees and the commercialization of the holiday. It...more
Fascinating, fun read about the history and evolution of Christmas. Filled with interesting trivia about Christmas trees, Santa Claus, gift giving, and much more. Well researched and written. The author is Christian, but he gives a very unbiased history, and through his research comes to the conclusion (as many others have) that Christmas is and always has been more of a secular holiday. Christians have a hard time keeping Christ in Christmas because he wasn't really in it to begin with. Great i...more
This was required reading for a history class I took. I expected to hate it. I'm not into overly celebrated holidays. Turns out this book was a well thought and written book on the history of the traditions we still use today and why we do.
For a short book of 153 pages, this manages to cover a fascinating subject in sufficient detail to make you feel you have really learned some things from reading it and gives you plenty if information on doing additional research. Great book!
Interesting to discover the origins of Christmas. It's not what I thought. Read this book and see if you agree with a child's "4 Basics of Christmas".
This was a slim volume that was an article disguised as a book. It was redunant and slow moving. A vast disappointment.
Informative, though provocative book on the history of Christmas and how it combines - or separates - religious and commercial Christmas in modern day. Also, suggestions for making Christmas a simpler time.
A somewhat dry-yet informative-little book by a Methodist minister explaining how keeping the Christ in Christmas wasn't originally the reason for the season.
Fantastic quick little read - great background, whetting my appetite for another book called the Battle for Christmas!
Actually makes me feel like celebrating a mid-winter return of sunlight instead of avoiding it altogether! I think I'm celebrating Sol Invictus this year!
Actually makes me feel like celebrating a mid-winter return of sunlight instead of avoiding it altogether! I think I'm celebrating Sol Invictus this year!
A social history of Christmas, from the desperate need to party in the depths of a pre-modern dark winter, early Christian co-opting of Saturnalia, Eastern and Western church arguing about dates, German royalty spreading Christmas trees, wrapped presents as a Victorian demonstration of impulse control, FDR moving Thanksgiving to extend the holiday shopping season and the flood of movies and music manufactured for popular consumption.
I really love this book. The author wanted to discover the reason Americans celebrate Christmas and why we celebrate the holiday the way we do. I really enjoyed learning about how Christmas spread through the world alongside Christianity. The book also changed the way I think about tradition and challenged me to think about how I celebrate Christmas so that my holiday can be more peace and less hectic.
Mostly a "that's interesting" book. Not particularly well written and sometimes lacking in explanation.
Recommended for anyone interested in the roots and evolution of the Christmas holiday. I would have appreciated a more detailed analysis of specific traditions and their roots to pagan practices and beliefs, but given the slim size, it's still an interesting and informative read.
Honestly, I don't remember when I finished this book, or if I actually did.
Learned a lot.
Learned a lot.
I didn't finish, lost interest when I found something I was more in the mood to read.
Aug 08, 2009
Kristen
marked it as to-read
Written by my former college professor - a good friend of mine. I saw several of his lectures/presentations on this topic "How Christmas Came to Be This Way." Very informative & enlightening as to the real history & origins of several aspects of the holiday...which was not based in Christian religion, as so many people assume.
Mar 22, 2013
Austin Coop
added it
Mar 16, 2013
Jeffrey Reidhead
marked it as to-read
Feb 14, 2013
Kirsten
marked it as to-read
Jan 31, 2013
Aaron Hillebrandt
marked it as to-read
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
