{"product_id":"the-battle-for-christmas-a-cultural-history-of-americas-most-cherished-holiday","title":"The Battle for Christmas: A Cultural History of America's Most Cherished Holiday","description":"\u003cb\u003ePULITZER PRIZE FINALIST - Drawing on a wealth of research, this \"fascinating\" book (\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review)\u003c\/i\u003e charts the invention of our current Yuletide traditions, from St. Nicholas to the Christmas tree and, perhaps most radically, the practice of giving gifts to children. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnyone who laments the excesses of Christmas might consider the Puritans of colonial Massachusetts: they simply outlawed the holiday. The Puritans had their reasons, since Christmas was once an occasion for drunkenness and riot, when poor \"wassailers extorted food and drink from the well-to-do. In this intriguing and innovative work of social history, Stephen Nissenbaum rediscovers Christmas's carnival origins and shows how it was transformed, during the nineteenth century, into a festival of domesticity and consumerism. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBursting with detail, filled with subversive readings of such seasonal classics as \"A Visit from St. Nicholas\" and\u003ci\u003e A Christmas Carol\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Battle for Christmas\u003c\/i\u003e captures the glorious strangeness of the past even as it helps us better understand our present.","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51987814875367,"sku":"9780679740384","price":18.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0449\/4075\/5096\/files\/imageloader_f2f81dcd-4924-4de9-b11f-d6b8315d99aa.jpg?v=1776397076","url":"https:\/\/arvidabookco.com\/products\/the-battle-for-christmas-a-cultural-history-of-americas-most-cherished-holiday","provider":"Arvida Book Co.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}