The Battle for Christmas 
Stephen Nissenbaum (NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996)

The Battle for Christmas is not what you might expect a book with this title to be about.  It is not about Christ back into Christmas, or even doing away with the crass commercialism of the season.  The subtitle reads: A social and cultural history of Christmas that shows how it was transformed from an unruly carnival season into the quintessential American family holiday. Or to put it a different way, one that speaks to the term "space," The Battle for Christmas is about how class consciousness, the proper space of each class, and the space between classes transformed Christmas.  

The Battle for Christmas, a refreshing original piece of research by an eminent historian, is full of unexpected revelations about the evolution of Christmas.  If nothing else The Battle For Christmas demonstrates that Christmas was an extremely contentious holiday long before the Grinch came along.  If you can get your hands on a copy of the book between now and Christmas, do it. The Battle for Christmas will make smile, laugh, and shake your head in amazement, but best of all, your faith in Santa Claus will be renewed.