MARC Record from marc_columbia

LEADER: 03367mam a2200373 a 4500
001 1902202
005 20220609023051.0
008 960530s1996 nyuabcg b 001 0 eng
010 $a 96022355
020 $a0679412239
035 $a(OCoLC)ocm34886023
035 $9ALZ4425CU
035 $a1902202
040 $aDLC$cDLC$dC#P$dOrLoB-B
043 $an-us---
050 00 $aGT4986.A1$bN57 1996
082 00 $a394.2/663/0973$220
100 1 $aNissenbaum, Stephen.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50000221
245 14 $aThe battle for Christmas /$cStephen Nissenbaum.
250 $a1st ed.
260 $aNew York :$bAlfred A. Knopf,$c1996.
300 $axiii, 381 pages :$billustrations, maps, portraits, music ;$c25 cm
336 $atext$btxt$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$bn$2rdamedia
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 321-367) and index.
505 00 $g1.$tNew England's War on Christmas --$g2.$tRevisiting "A Visit from St. Nicholas" --$g3.$tThe Parlor and the Street --$g4.$tAffection's Gift: Toward a History of Christmas Presents --$g5.$tUnder the Christmas Tree: A Battle of Generations --$g6.$tTiny Tim and Other Charity Cases --$g7.$tWassailing Across the Color Line: Christmas in the Antebellum South --$tEpilogue: 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.
520 8 $aWhat 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.
520 8 $a.
520 8 $aAttempting 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's A Christmas Carol.
520 8 $aAnd 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.
520 8 $aThe 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.
852 00 $bglx$hGT4986.A1$iN57 1996