Christmas: A Biography

She lives in London. She is a frequent contributor to TheWall Street Journal, TheDaily Telegraph, and The Times Literary Supplement. . JUDITH FLANDERS is a New York Times bestselling author and one of the foremost social historians of the Victorian era

Praise for The Making of Home:“Judith Flanders’s new book isn’t just smart and diverting but it is also brave… Flanders uses books well and pictures intelligently, searching images for hidden meaning… this book has charm and learning.”The New York Times Book Review“The heart of Ms. In her new book, she takes an unconventional look at how our modern idea of home came to be." The Washington Post. Flanders’s book traces the physical alteration of houses over the past five centuries… A useful synthesis for those interested in architectural history and material culture”The Wall Street Journal“When did houses evolve into homes? You’ll find out in F

By 1616, the playwright Ben Jonson was nostalgically remembering Christmas in the old days, certain that it had been better then.Other elements of Christmas are much newer – who would have thought gift-wrap is a novelty of the twentieth century? That the first holiday parade was neither at Macy’s, nor even in the USA?Some things, however, never change. Christmas is all things to all people: a religious festival, a family celebration, a period of eating and drinking. A critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author explores the Christmas holiday, from the original festival through present day traditions.Christmas has always been a magical time. Or has it? Thirty years after the first recorded Christmas, the Pope was already warning that too many people were spending the day, not in worship, but in partying and eating to excess. In Christmas: A Biography, bestselling author and acclaimed social historian Judith Flanders casts a sharp eye on myths, legends and history, deftly moving from the