America's Favorite Holidays: Candid Histories

By Bruce David Forbes

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520284720
• ISBN13: 9780520284722
• Release Date: October 2015
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 8.0"