America's Favorite Holidays: Candid Histories - Softcover

Forbes, Bruce David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520284720 ISBN 13: 9780520284722

Publisher: University of California Press, 2015

Synopsis

America’s Favorite Holidays explores how five of America’s culturally important holidays—Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween, and Thanksgiving—came to be what they are today, seasonal and religious celebrations heavily influenced by modern popular culture. Deftly distilling information from a wide range of sources, Bruce David Forbes reveals often-surprising answers to questions about each holiday’s traditions. Was Christmas always as commercialized as it is today? Is Thanksgiving a religious or secular holiday? When did we begin trick-or-treating on Halloween? Appealing and insightful, America’s Favorite Holidays satisfies our curiosity about the origins of our holidays and the fascinating ways in which religion and culture mix.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

“Lucid and lighthearted, America’s Favorite Holidays presents observations about various US holidays in a meaningful way. Both in tone and content, the book is an authoritative companion to our most popular holidays, festivals, and celebrations.”—Amy Frykholm, associate editor of The Christian Century and author of Rapture Culture: Left Behind in Evangelical America

"Think you know what America's major holidays are all about? Think again. Bruce Forbes will make you see the traditions you've grown up with in surprising and intriguing new ways. Perfect for book groups, America's Favorite Holidays is sure to become a favorite read around the holidays, or any day."—Sarah McFarland Taylor, Professor of Religious Studies and American Studies, Northwestern University

“Clear, engaging, and accessible. Exploring scholarship and folklore, Bruce Forbes lays out the historical development of five major American holidays in a direct and charming fashion.”—Eugene V. Gallagher, co-general editor of Nova Religio and Rosemary Park Professor of Religious Studies at Connecticut College

 

About the Author:

Bruce David Forbes is Professor of Religious Studies at Morningside College, author of Christmas: A Candid History, and coeditor of Religion and Popular Culture in America.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0520284720
• ISBN 13: 9780520284722
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 232