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.
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.
“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
232 pp.6 x 8Illus: 30 b/w photos
9780520284722$24.95|£21.00Paper
Oct 2015