On Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:52:48 -0800, Allen Esterson wrote: >Malcolm Gladwell discusses Christmas with Craig Brown. > > http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/12/gladwell-200912
Perhaps what I like least about Gladwell's writing is when he comes off like a snarky intellectual version of Larry King, as he does in this throwaway article. A greater investment of time but with a much greater payoff would be Stephen Nissenbaum's "The Battle for Christmas" which provides an interesting history of the holiday from the setting of the date of Christman in 400 AD, its manifestation as "misrule" and rejection by some Christian sects such as the Puritains (Christmas was briefly legally banned in Massachusetts), and its reinvention by a number of New Yorkers into a child centered holiday (with borrowing from other cultures, especially German) that we continue to celebrate today. Nissenbaum is a professor of history which might be interpreted as implying that perhaps he has some idea of what he is talking about though, clearly, simply being a professor (as in Pinker's case) might imply to some the opposite. Nissenbaum's book is available in snippet view on books.google.com, see: http://books.google.com/books?id=-q6BAAAAMAAJ&dq=christmas+history+nissenbaum&q=contents#search_anchor It also available in book form on Amazon (sadly, there is no version for Kindle gnawers or Kindle nibblers): http://www.amazon.com/Battle-Christmas-Stephen-Nissenbaum/dp/0679740384/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258290808&sr=1-4 or http://tinyurl.com/yzsa2vz -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
