内容简介
Anyone 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.
作者简介
Stephen Nissenbaum received his A.B. from Harvard College in
1961, his M.A. from Columbia University in 1963, and his Ph.D. from
the University of Wisconsin in 1968. He has taught at the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst since 1968, and is currently
professor of history there. He has been the recipient of
fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the
American Council of Learned Societies, the American Antiquarian
Society, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the Charles
Warren Center at Harvard. In addition, he was James P. Harrison
Professor of History at the College of William and Mary, 1989-90.
Active in the public humanities, he has served as member and
president of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, and
as historical advisor for several film productions. The
Battle for Christmas was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in History
in 1997.