MARC record from Internet Archive

LEADER: 03937cam 2200469Ia 4500
001 ocm37884236
003 OCoLC
005 20211020025033.0
008 971103r19971996nyuab b 001 0 eng d
040 $aKUT$beng$cKUT$dBAKER$dNLGGC$dBTCTA$dYDXCP$dTLE$dBDX$dOCLCQ$dOCLCF$dOCLCQ$dOCLCO$dMOQ$dVLR$dNYHOF$dOCL
020 $a0679740384$q(pbk.)
020 $a9780679740384$q(pbk.)
035 $a(OCoLC)37884236
043 $an-us---
050 4 $aGT4986.A1$bN57 1997
082 04 $a394.26630973$220
084 $a71.55$2bcl
100 1 $aNissenbaum, Stephen.
245 14 $aThe battle for Christmas /$cStephen Nissenbaum.
250 $a1st Vintage Books ed.
260 $aNew York :$bVintage Books,$c1997, ©1996.
300 $axiii, 381 pages :$billustrations, maps ;$c21 cm
336 $atext$btxt$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$bn$2rdamedia
338 $avolume$bnc$2rdacarrier
500 $aReprint. Originally published: New York : Knopf, 1996.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 321-367) and index.
505 0 $aNew England's war on Christmas -- Revisiting "A visit from St. Nicholas" -- The parlor and the street -- Affection's gift : toward a history of Christmas presents -- Under the Christmas tree : a battle of generations -- Tiny Tim and other charity cases -- Wassailing across the color line : Christmas in the antebellum South -- Epilogue : The ghosts of Christmas past.
520 $aAmericans who complain about the modern-day commercialization of Christmas may be surprised to discover that dissatisfaction with the way the holiday has been observed is by no means a new phenomenon. In 1659 the Massachusetts General Court declared the celebration of Christmas to be a criminal offense. What the Puritans were trying to suppress was a season of excess rooted in the ancient agricultural cycle - rowdy public displays of eating and drinking, mockery of established authority, aggressive begging, and boisterous invasions of the homes of the wealthy. In The Battle for Christmas, Stephen Nissenbaum shows how in the early nineteenth century, with the growth of cities, these Christmas-season carnival revels became even more threatening as they turned into gang violence and even riots. Attempting to get Christmas out of the streets, a group of New Yorkers - Washington Irving among them - led a movement to transform it into a new style of celebration that would take place within the secure confines of the family circle, and be concerned especially with the happiness of children. We learn how two classic texts helped refashion the holiday: Clement Clarke Moore's "A Visit from St. Nicholas" and Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. And we are shown the child-centered Christmas epitomized by the family gatherings and gift-exchanges of the Sedgwick family in nineteenth-century Massachusetts and New York. The Battle for Christmas also explores the not-always-proud history of Christmas charity, and the story of Christmas among the slave community in the antebellum South - a celebration reminiscent of the carnival tradition. Throughout, Nissenbaum looks at what America's way of celebrating Christmas over the years reveals about the broad forces transforming our culture. And he shows us as well how it has been both an instrument and a mirror of social change in America.
650 0 $aChristmas$zUnited States$xHistory.
650 7 $aChristmas.$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst00859787
651 7 $aUnited States.$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst01204155
650 17 $aKerstmis.$2gtt
655 7 $aHistory.$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst01411628
938 $aBaker & Taylor$bBKTY$c17.95$d13.46$i0679740384$n0003028934$sactive
938 $aBrodart$bBROD$n50910019$c$17.95
938 $aBaker and Taylor$bBTCP$nbl 99794475
938 $aYBP Library Services$bYANK$n545404
029 1 $aNZ1$b11619737
029 1 $aYDXCP$b545404
994 $aZ0$bP4A
948 $hNO HOLDINGS IN P4A - 226 OTHER HOLDINGS