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The Man Who Invented Christmas

How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits

by Les Standiford

The Man Who Invented Christmas

Hardcover, 241 pages, Random House Inc, List Price: $19.95 | purchase

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Book Summary

An uplifting study of the story behind Dickens's most beloved work, A Christmas Carol, describes how the author, at a low point in his career, self-published the holiday classic, revitalizing Dickens's failing literary career and reviving the celebration of Christmas amid the struggles of the Industrial Revolution. 40,000 first printing.

NPR stories about The Man Who Invented Christmas

Excerpt: 'The Man Who Invented Christmas'

by Les Standiford

There were no Christmas cards in 1843 England, no Christmas trees at royal residences or White Houses, no Christmas turkeys, no department-store Santa or his million clones, no outpouring of "Yuletide greetings," no weeklong cessation of business affairs through the New Year, no orgy of gift-giving, no ubiquitous public display of nativity scenes (or court fights regarding them), no holiday lighting extravaganzas, and no plethora of midnight services celebrating the birth of a savior.

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