The Halloween Connection

Synopsis
Did you know that the Puritans did not celebrate Christmas? That trick or treating on Halloween began in the late 1930s? That Kwanzaa was created in the mid-sixties by Ron Karenga, a radical Black Nationalist and Black Panther? Every holiday has a history, and this set sets out to describe them all. Thirty major, emergent, and bygone holidays are examined in-depth.

Library Journal
When Congress passed the Monday Holidays Act in 1971 stipulating that three holidays would be celebrated at the beginning of the week rather than the established dates, critics charged our national heritage was being trivialized to accommodate three-day weekends. This two-volume work contains informative and often fascinating material on the origin and evolution of these and other significant U.S. holidays. Written by scholars in the fields of U.S. history, folklore, politics, and popular culture, the work also includes lively discussions on the growth of several non-official commemorations, religious rites, and historic events, e.g., Super Bowl Sunday, Gay Pride commemorations, Passover, Hanukkah, Easter, and slave emancipation days. Arranged in chronological order from the January commemoration of Dr. Martin L. King's birthday to First Night events on New Year's Eve, each chapter includes a lengthy narrative history, bibliographic references, and a useful one-page list of highlights. The book is nicely illustrated with black-and-white photographs and drawings and contains a handy index. Bottom Line While Stephen G. Christianson's American Book of Days (Wilson, 2000, 4th ed.) offers broader coverage of historical, political, and cultural anniversaries, it does not offer the comprehensive holiday coverage found in the Greenwood work. Diligently researched and fun to browse, this work is an outstanding ready reference source for public and academic libraries. Highly recommended.-Donald Altschiller, Boston Univ. Libs. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Biography
LEN TRAVERS is associate professor of history at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. He is the author of Celebrating the Fourth: Independence Day and the Rites of Nationalism in the Early Republic (1997) and "The Paradox of 'Nationalist' Festivals: The Case of Palmetto Day in Antebellum Charleston", in William Pencak, et al, eds., Riot and Revelry in Early America.