Christmas: A Candid History by Bruce David Forbes

I was disappointed by this book. The tone was vaguely patronizing and the metaphors used simplistic at best. Forbes gives a brief cultural history of the holiday, emphasizing that Christmas has always borrowed its celebratory aspects from other cultures and that Christmas is generally not a big deal in terms of its religious value. Although his point, we ought not seek to reclaim a strictly religious and non-secular holiday because such an event never really existed, is not poorly taken, I felt talked down to during the entire book.