THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS

The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits by Les Standiford

241 pages

Reviewed by Rae C.

This is a great book filled with tidbits about Dickens and how he came to write "A Christmas Carol."  The book points out how this story changed Christmas celebrations.  For example, it was celebrated, and some people did have trees, and a few wealthy people sent out early versions of Christmas card, but this story created the culture of what we now consider to be a traditional Christmas.  And before this story, the goose was the star of the Christmas dinner, not turkey.

This story was also much influenced by Dickens trips to Manchester, an industrial city with a lot of poverty.  This was during the time that Karl Marx and Frederick Engels were writing the Communist Manifesto in Manchester.  A lot of interesting tidbits about Dickens economic and political viewpoints, especially that Dickens was not a socialist/Marxist.

Also there was quite a bit about how influential Dickens was even during his times.  His books sold more in the British Isles than many of our NY Times bestsellers sell today.  Also a lot about how much he had to fight piracy and bad rip offs of his books, and never received a penny for any of his books sold in other countries. And there is an alternate story about how his life ended, quite Dickensian really, at his young lover's house, not his home.  

If you like Dickens, A Christmas Carol, Victorian traditions and history, or just a good read, I recommend this book.  If you love Dickens and/or "A Christmas Carol", this book is a necessity!