America's Favorite Holidays

Candid Stories

De: Bruce David Forbes

Narrado por: Noah Michael Levine

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.

©2015 The Regents of the University of California (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Exactly what I was hoping for!

A lot of this basic information can be gleaned by reading Wikipedia's entries for each holiday, but I really liked the way Forbes ties it all together with a A-leads-to-B-leads-to-C kind of logic. This is fascinating stuff that will make you think about how our cultures have adapted, morphed, and melted things together to create the customs we enjoy. It helped me to realize not just how new a lot of our customs really are, but how humans and changing times have changed the narrative on what we believe to be true. More than most books I listen to, this one really flew by quickly. It's well-organized and concise, and I really liked the narration. I rarely give 5 stars across the board, and I even more rarely write reviews on here. I really enjoyed this one.

Well-reaerched and informative

This author is most impressive. His research and ability to communicate is evident. His skill at making history interesting and relevant is also demonstrated. My only objection is the inclusion of Valentine's Day with the other bigger, more historical holidays. I would rather the chapter on Valentine's Day be ommitted and a bit more time spent on the other four holidays. Otherwise, the book is informative, is narrated well and should be of interest to anyone who wants to learn more about major holidays.

Christianity, not holidays

I picked this but because I thought I'd learned something about holidays. I was an hour into it when I realized that it's technically about Christianity and the holidays that surround it. Now, this is okay for people who don't believe anything existed before Christianity but that doesn't tell us where these holidays came from that Christianity stole. If you can't tell me that then there's nothing there of relevant interest because claiming it's about holidays isn't true.