⋙ [PDF] The Man Who Invented Christmas How Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits eBook Les Standiford

The Man Who Invented Christmas How Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits eBook Les Standiford

Download As PDF : The Man Who Invented Christmas How Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits eBook Les Standiford

The Man Who Invented Christmas How Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits eBook Les Standiford

In mid-December, I read Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, and The Cricket on the Hearth. I was very familiar with A Christmas Carol, but had never read the other two. Then I ran across Mr. Standiford's book The Man Who Invented Christmas. I thought that it would be particularly suitable for this time of year, and I was right.

However, I did not enjoy the book as much as I expected to. The book is small and not lengthy. Even so, I felt that it could have been reduced to being a long magazine article. Mr. Standiford's writing is fine, and the subject is interesting. I just found that I was being introduced to more information about the British publishing industry than I really wanted to know. You can get a good feel for Dickens himself in the book, i.e., his early years, his family life, his occupational and financial problems. You learn about the difficulties involved with publishing a book and making any money on it. I believe you will also become convinced to read more works by Dickens.

My problems with the book had to do with a few sections that just seemed to drag. I would have been grateful for more specific information about A Christmas Carol. For example, Mr. Standiford does point out that the British geese industry ran into hard times because Dickens had the big turkey sent to the Cratchits rather than buying a goose for them. I found that to be particularly interesting, and I would have enjoyed more tidbits like that.

I did find Mr. Standiford's brief discussions of The Chimes and The Cricket on the Hearth to be very useful. Having just read those stories for the first time ever, I was glad to read his summaries because those stories are fairly dense and not nearly as memorable as A Christmas Carol.


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The Man Who Invented Christmas How Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits eBook Les Standiford Reviews

“Eliminate ignorance, Dickens dreamed in his Carol. Eliminate want. A tall order then, and a tall order now. But one does not need to be a social scientist to know that he identifies the true sources of misery in this world. And it is a mark of Dickens’s genius that we return eagerly to his hopeful vision—millions of us now—year after year. And vow to do the best we can.”
It happened one night in 1843, when a 31-year-old Charles Dickens wandered the streets of Manchester, England. Faced with financial ruin due to insurmountable debts, a troubled marriage and a career that teetered on the brink of doom; it was then a spark ignited—an idea that began to take shape for a new Christmas story and soon, Dickens would have no choice but to succumb to its power and write down his story that would forever instill the spirit of Christmas in the hearts and minds of the world.

Les Standiford’s “The Man Who Invented Christmas” invites us to travel back to that time during England’s Industrial Revolution where we retrace Dickens’ life from child laborer at the shoe-blacking factory through his education, his foray into the theatre and eventually, his career as one of the most beloved writers of literature, not to mention the author who embodies the very spirit of Christmas. Standiford also provides insight into the publishing industry of the day and retraces 2,000 years of Christmas traditions. But there’s a dark side to this story as well, one that the reader needs to understand about the socio-economic crisis that prevailed at the time—the abject poverty, ignorance and want of his fellow man, and how little, if anything, the government did to “make provisions for the poor.”

After declining sales and surly critics, not to mention the welfare of his fellow countrymen, Dickens knew he had to prove himself worthy to the critics, to his fans, not to mention his publishers. But also he had to awaken men’s souls, open the eyes of his readers to the deplorable state of welfare his fellow countrymen suffered. And he had just the story to do it. However, when he presented his "little Christmas book" to his publishers, they declined so entrepreneurial Dickens decided to write and self-publish the story himself, an exercise in vanity publishing, to quote the author.

With little time remaining before the holidays, Dickens completed his “Carol” in just six weeks' time by end of November, which left less than four weeks to design, print, market and publish 6,000 copies. By Dec. 19, mission accomplished and his “little Christmas book” sold out in four days. By the end of the year, second and third printings were scheduled for production.

Little could Dickens have known the ripple he was about to make in the cultural fabric of western civilization, an indelible mark imprinted upon the psyche of all who celebrate Christmas. As you know, “A Christmas Carol” continues to endure despite the fact it’s been 150 years since its release; and has become a cherished holiday tradition celebrated in print, theatre and cinema. To this day, many believe Dickens invented or “re-invented” Christmas, and as a result, ignited a flame that burns its brightest during the holidays, when charity and compassion and brotherly love come easy to all of us who celebrate the spirit of the season.

I hope you find this book as fascinating as I did and that a new tradition may have been born in the minds of all who read it. “God bless us, everyone!”
It was interesting. I feel a little let down since I bought the book thinking that it was a novelization of the movie (or, more accurately, the movie was an adaptation of the novel). Actually, the book is a nice historical examination of Charles Dickens' life. It did a very good job of doing what it set out to do, but I think the movie tie-in cover was a bit deceptive.
Very good short biography about Charles Dickens that focused on his writing of the Christmas Carol. I think the title is sort of mis-labled. I don't think the author shows that Dickens invented Christmas as much as he may have helped revive its popularity and made the customs of the season more sentimental. The author did show how Dickens life growing up affected the writings of his books. His father did serve time in a debtors prison and that brought out a lot of what Dickens felt about charity, forbearance and also the ignorance of the times. Standiford also talked much about the publishing business in Europe and throughout the world. Copyright laws were just starting to take hold and most countries had yet to recognize these laws from other countries. Dickens probably lost a lot of money to rip off copies of A Christmas Carol. Dickens struggled most of his time in trying get what he deserved from publishing his works. But the big thing to take from this book is how A Christmas Carol has held up over nearly 200 years. It is still the timeless classic as it always was. Many movies,TV shows,national and local productions are done of this story today and shows
no sign of slowing down. It will most likely still be just as popular in another 200 years.
In mid-December, I read Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, and The Cricket on the Hearth. I was very familiar with A Christmas Carol, but had never read the other two. Then I ran across Mr. Standiford's book The Man Who Invented Christmas. I thought that it would be particularly suitable for this time of year, and I was right.

However, I did not enjoy the book as much as I expected to. The book is small and not lengthy. Even so, I felt that it could have been reduced to being a long magazine article. Mr. Standiford's writing is fine, and the subject is interesting. I just found that I was being introduced to more information about the British publishing industry than I really wanted to know. You can get a good feel for Dickens himself in the book, i.e., his early years, his family life, his occupational and financial problems. You learn about the difficulties involved with publishing a book and making any money on it. I believe you will also become convinced to read more works by Dickens.

My problems with the book had to do with a few sections that just seemed to drag. I would have been grateful for more specific information about A Christmas Carol. For example, Mr. Standiford does point out that the British geese industry ran into hard times because Dickens had the big turkey sent to the Cratchits rather than buying a goose for them. I found that to be particularly interesting, and I would have enjoyed more tidbits like that.

I did find Mr. Standiford's brief discussions of The Chimes and The Cricket on the Hearth to be very useful. Having just read those stories for the first time ever, I was glad to read his summaries because those stories are fairly dense and not nearly as memorable as A Christmas Carol.