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Title: Merry Christmas!: Celebrating America's Greatest Holiday by Karal Ann Marling ISBN: 0-674-00679-8 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: December, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.75 (4 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Fascinating, intellegent, but not overbearing
Comment: Marling has a way of exploring topics with a balance of intellectual curiosity and lightheartedness. Like the other books of hers I've read, she explores Christmas traditions (the book is organized by topics of Christmas, such as giftwrapping, or the tradition of giving cards) by tracing their development over time. In the process, some of our assumptions about where our traditions came from get shaken out to air. Fun, thought-provoking, and very much worth the read, as is her book _As Seen on TV_, which examines the pop culture of the 1950's.
Rating: 1
Summary: Save your money (and your Christmas spirit)
Comment: I guess my search for the perfect history of Christmas will trudge on. While containing some interesting facts (e.g., Washington Irving's mythical view of the English Christmas predated Dickens by 20 years), the organization of the book make it a real pain to read. I can't begin to express how much I dislike the chapter organization. Marling has laid things out by topic (e.g., Christmas cards, Santa Claus, gift-giving). As a 'history' of Christmas, this organization makes it an utter hassle to comprehend how things played out over time. It would have been much more effective and compelling to read if the book were chronological. That way, one could truly appreciate the development of the holiday in America, rather than have to piece things together after the fact.
... I must also take issue with the illustrations in the book. The few that are actually in the book are dreadfully reproduced black and white pictures. Instead of appearing festive, they are just depressing.
I thought this book would help me to really get into the Christmas spirit. Instead, I found myself wishing I'd saved the money to buy myself a Christmas CD or video.
Rating: 1
Summary: Look at it before buying
Comment: If I had browsed through this book before buying it, I would have rejected it for these reasons: content is superficial, author's tone is smarty-pants academic as well as wordy,and the illustrations are poorly reproduced.
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Title: Christmas in America: A History by Penne L. Restad ISBN: 0195109805 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: December, 1996 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Inventing Christmas : How Our Holiday Came to Be by Jock Elliott ISBN: 0810934930 Publisher: Harry N. Abrams Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century America by Beth L. Bailey ISBN: 0801839351 Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr Pub. Date: August, 1989 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era by Elaine Tyler May ISBN: 0465030556 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: November, 1999 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title:Looney Tunes - The Golden Collection ASIN: B0000AYJXS Publisher: Warner Home Video Pub. Date: 28 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $64.92 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $45.44 |
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