![]() Nissenbaum shows how New York's elite seized the holiday and invented traditions, such as the Christmas tree, to keep raucous youth at home under their parents' watchful eyes. Christmas had been, even into the Jacksonian era, a season for excessive public drinking, the looting of wealthy homes, and loud street singing of bawdy holiday tunes. ![]() Nick to consciously transform the holiday. He doesn't simply tell us that Santa Claus was a 19th-century American invention he weaves a narrative that explains why a group of prominent New Yorkers created St. ![]() of Massachusetts) has combined considerable research with skillful analysis. It's unusual that a work of history manages to be both entertaining and intelligent, yet this is precisely the appeal of this excellent book. ![]() A masterful account of Christmas's transformation from a rowdy bacchanalian revel to a child-centered, domestic celebration, with all its attendant commercial glitter. ![]()
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