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Christmas in the Crosshairs: Two Thousand Years of Denouncing and Defending the World's Most Celebrated Holiday Hardcover – October 13, 2016

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 44 ratings

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An Anglican priest hands out brass knuckles to his congregation, preparing to battle anti-Christmas fanatics. Fascists insist that the Winter Solstice is the real Christmas, while Communists stage atheist musicals outside of churches on Christmas Eve. Activists vandalize shops that start touting the holiday in October and anti-consumerists sing parody carols in shopping malls. Is there a war on Christmas? As Gerry Bowler demonstrates in Christmas in the Crosshairs, there is and always has been a war, or several wars, on Christmas.

A cherished global phenomenon, Christmas is the biggest single event on the planet. For Christians it is the second-most sacred date on the calendar, but it also engages billions of people who are caught up in its commercialism, music, sentiment, travel, and frenetic busyness. Since its controversial invention in the Roman Empire, Christmas has struggled with paganism, popular culture, and fierce Christian opposition; faced abolition in Scotland and New England; and braved neglect and near-death in the 1700s, only to be miraculously reinvented in the 1800s. The twentieth century saw it banned by Bolsheviks and twisted by Nazis. Since then, special interest groups of every stripe have used the holiday's massive popularity to draw attention to their causes.

Christmas in the Crosshairs tells the story of the tug-of-war over Christmas, replete with cross-dressing priests, ranting Puritans, and atheist witches. In this eye-opening history of Christmas and its opponents from the beginning up to the present day, Bowler gives us a shocking, and richly entertaining, new look at the tradition we thought we knew so well.
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Editorial Reviews

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"Yes, Virginia, there is a war against Christmas, and it has been waged for hundreds of years, as Gerry Bowler demonstrates in this eye-opening, lively, meticulously researched history. Christmas haters include Hitler, Puritans and the Westboro Baptist Church, pushing draconian laws or composing vulgar anti-holiday ditties. Against them stand Charles Dickens, Clement Moore, and large dollops of good will and common sense. Bowler details the clashes down the centuries with verve and intelligence; this is a masterful achievement." --Philip Zaleski, co-author of The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings: J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams

"Of all the culture wars afflicting America, the so-called war on Christmas can seem like a lightweight addition - a fluffy media concoction more than a substantial religious protest. Christmas in the Crosshairs gives historical heft and global perspective to the millennia-long battles over the holiday. At every turn Bowler's vivid account delivers needed depth and nuance to the current frays over the festival." --Leigh Eric Schmidt, Edward C. Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor, Washington University in St. Louis

"St. Augustine. John Chrysostom. The Puritans. Washington Irving. African Americans. Fidel Castro. Anti-consumer advocates. Westboro Baptist Church. Fox News. They have all, at one time or another, been caught in the 'crosshairs' of debates over the celebration of Christmas. Gerry Bowler's latest book teaches us that the so-called 'wars on Christmas' have a long and fascinating history." --John Fea, Professor of American History, Messiah College

"Bowler takes a seemingly modern topic -- the vilification of Christmas -- and shows it to have a centuries-old history. His survey of the issue covers everything from the deadly serious to the absurd, and it will leave readers amazed at the holiday's ability to not only persist, but to thrive worldwide... enlightening and entertaining." --Kirkus Reviews

"This scholarly, informative, and entertaining work is a wonderful antidote for anyone sick of all of the fuss who wants to enjoy Christmas, or at least tolerate it with good humor." --Library Journal

"Christmas in the Crosshairs: Two Thousand Years of Denouncing and Defending the World's Most Celebrated Holiday chronicles a mind-boggling array of conflicts stretching from the ancient world to today." --Christianity Today

"The refreshing takeaway of Christmas in the Crosshairs is that most contemporary agita about Christmas' supposed decline is misplaced. . . . [Bowler] is a lively guide." --Slate

Book Description

Is there a War on Christmas? This book surveys the history of the world's most popular festival and the never-ending battles it has engendered ever since its hotly-contested invention in the Roman Empire.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; Illustrated edition (October 13, 2016)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 312 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0190499001
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0190499006
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.3 x 1.2 x 6.3 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 44 ratings

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Gerry Bowler
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Gerry Bowler is a Canadian historian and writer with a special interest in popular culture and its connections to religion. He has won several awards for teaching, trivia, amateur theatrics and 5-pin bowling. He has travelled around the world and never succeeded in paying less than full retail price when haggling with merchants on five continents.

Gerry has written on Bloody Mary, Wayne Gretzky, Christmas, tyrannicide, Renaissance monarchy, pirates, Puritans, The Simpsons, and the relationship between Aristotle and professional wrestling.

He likes the writings of Samuel Johnson, Avram Davidson, Alan Furst, Michel de Montaigne, Ben Pastor, Maurizio di Giovanni and Richard Blake.

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2020
    If you are into this stuff and the continuing arguments over the keeping of Christmas , this book is a good source of the the fascinating history of how this saga has unfolded.
  • Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2017
    I often wondered just how Christmas turned into what it has become. This work provides a wonderful history of Christmas, covering it through the ebbs and flows of interest from religious, cultural, and political angles. Especially interesting was the efforts made in the 20th century by socialists, communists, and fascists to snuff it out. Nevertheless, Christmas emerged and likely always will.
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2017
    This book gives so much history of the celebration of Christmas. It's a very interesting and detailed book.
  • Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2017
    Amazon Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )
    Gerry Bowler is a Canadian historian specializing in "the intersection of religion and popular culture," and "Christmas in the Crosshairs" is a history of controversy over the holiday that has been denounced by a long list of complainants over the course of two millennia and defended with equal fervor by its adherents. Bowler begins his tale in the second century, when Christians began to celebrate the birth of their Savior and continues chronologically for the first few chapters. After the book reaches the recent squabbles over Christmas, it is organized thematically. Beyond attempts to suppress, eliminate, change, or support Christmas, Bowler includes a chapter about mostly marginal groups that have used the holiday to promote their causes.

    First, there is a discussion of theories of why December 25 was settled upon as the day Christ was born. Even in antiquity, the holiday had critics in a number of theologians. Bowler follows the rise and fall of Christmas' popularity through antiquity, its raucous manifestation in the Middle Ages, more austere character at the hands of Protestant reformers, the debate's descent into violence during England's Civil War, attacks by Puritans, by sophisticates, and finally by The Enlightenment, leaving Christmas in a sorry state by the end of the 18th century. The book's second chapter follows the rehabilitation of Christmas in the 19th century, its remaking as a family holiday, aided by a number of literary efforts, that fit perfectly that century's concept of childhood and domestic life.

    By the 20th century, Christmas had been tamed into a family affair, but it had also become more expensive and time-consuming. Bowler dedicates a chapter to how "the tyrants," or the oppressive and antireligious governments of the 20th century, dealt with Christmas: Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and Maoist China. The discussion of more-or-less contemporary battles over Christmas begins in chapter four and constitutes most of the book. Bowler covers the rise of New Atheism, Neo-Calvinism, and other elements who hope to remove Christmas paraphernalia from the public sphere as well as Catholic and fundamentalist Protestant groups who lament the commercialization of the holiday, and environmentalists and anti-capitalist groups who discourage holiday spending sprees.

    In his chapter about "The Appropriators", Bowler concentrates on the litany of "voices from the margins" who have seized on Christmas to promote their causes, as advertisers and politicians' use of the holiday has been covered extensively in other works. Holiday Cranks who just don't like the holiday get their own short chapter that touches on the stress, loneliness and depression that some people feel during the holiday season. "The Privatizers" get a long chapter that covers the legal debates over the propriety of Christmas and religious displays on public property and in public schools. These are the groups and individuals who relentlessly attempt to have Christmas displays removed on Constitutional grounds. This includes what the author dubs the "umbrage industry."

    "Christmas in the Crosshairs" is well-organized, presents a breadth of material, and provides a clear picture of the current battles over Christmas in public spaces, while it is still able to be light-hearted in places and poke fun at social activists of all stripes who manage to find fault with every aspect of Christmas. It's interesting to learn what aspects of Christmas were fought over in different eras, reflecting the cultural issues of the time. This is a scholarly work, but it's relatively short and not without humor. The author doesn't take any obvious position about Christmas or its detractors until the chapter about "The Privatizers", where he expresses a clear opinion in conclusion. It's a book for the curious, as those firmly on one side of the debate might be put off.
  • Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2017
    Disappointing in that the author perpetuates that old chestnut that the Christmas tree was re-introduced into Britain by Queen Victoria and her German husband Prince Albert in the mid-nineteenth century. While Albert's tree did catch the attention of the British media at the time,
    it was,in fact, Victoria's German grandmother Queen Charlotte (1746-1818) and wife of George III who actually introduced the Christmas tree from Germany. A Doctor Watkins, member of the court once recalled for historians the presence of a Christmas tree at the Queen's Lodge at Windsor on Christmas Day,1800." In the middle of the room stood an immense tub with a yew tree placed in it, from the branches of which hung bunches of sweetmeats, almonds,and raisins in papers,fruits,and toys most tastefully arranged, and the whole illuminated by small wax candles."
    The Christmas Tree Book, by John SnyderThe Christmas Tree Book Too bad this book missed an opportunity
    to update the record.Otherwise interesting over all.
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars C'est un livre excellent. Très bonne lecture pour la période de Noel ...
    Reviewed in Canada on January 23, 2017
    D'abord, c'est un article du Globe & Mail qui m'a incié à acheter ce livre.C'est un livre excellent. Très bonne lecture pour la période de Noel et je n'hésiterai pas à l'offrir en cadeau!
  • Herbert E. Hilder
    5.0 out of 5 stars Not always a holiday cheer time
    Reviewed in Canada on January 30, 2017
    Well researched and a good general survey of the various views held over the centuries about the marking and celebration of Christmas. A fun read