For further information about the history and impact of holidays in the
United States, see the following works:
Anthony F. Aveni. The Book of the Year: A Brief History of Our
Holidays. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. 224 pp. ISBN # 0-19-515024-4 $25.00
Jack Santino. All Around the Year: Holidays and Celebrations
in American Life. Urbana: University of Illinois Press,
1995.
Ellen M. Litwicki. America's Public Holidays, 1865-1920.
Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2000. 288 pp.
ISBN # 1-56098-863-0. $39.95 cloth and ISBN # 1-58834-061-9 $21.95 paperback.
Leigh Eric Schmidt. Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of
American Holidays. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995.
Details the economic implications of Christmas, Valentine's Day,
Easter, and Mother's Day.
Mike Cronin and Daryl Adair. The Wearing of the Green: A History
of St. Patrick's Day. New York: Routledge, 2002. 360 pp. ISBN # 0-415-
18004-X. $25.00.
Reid Mitchell. All on a Mardi Gras Day: Episodes in the History
of New Orleans Carnival. Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1995. 264 pp. ISBN # 0-674-01622-X. $29.95.
Len Travers. Celebrating the Fourth. Amherst, MA: University
of Massachsuetts Press, 1977.
Nicholas Rogers. Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night.
New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. 208 pp. ISBN # 0-19-514691-3. $23.00.
William B. Waits. The Modern Christmas in America: A Cultural History
of Gift Giving. New York: New York University Press, 1992. 272 pp.
ISBN # 0-8147-9251-0.
Penne L. Restad. Christmas in America: A History. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1995. 256 pp. ISBN #0-19-509300-3.
$25.00.
Stephen Nissenbaum. The Battle for Christmas. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.
Dorothy Winbush Riley. The Complete Kwanzaa: Celebrating Our
Cultural Harvest. New York: HarperCollins, 1995. $23.00.
Discusses the background and practice of this cultural
celebration, founded in 1966, which takes place from December 26
to January 1.
Gerald Early. "Dreaming of a Black Christmas: Kwanzaa bestows
the gifts of therapy." Harper's Magazine, January 1997, pp.
55-61.
Last updated on March 7, 2006
Department of History Tennessee Technological University
Box 5064 Cookeville, TN 38505
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