America's Favorite Holidays
Candid Stories
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Narrated by:
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Noah Michael Levine
About this listen
America's Favorite Holidays explores how five of America's culturally important holidays - Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween, and Thanksgiving - came to be what they are today, seasonal and religious celebrations heavily influenced by modern popular culture.
Deftly distilling information from a wide range of sources, Bruce David Forbes reveals often-surprising answers to questions about each holiday's traditions. Was Christmas always as commercialized as it is today? Is Thanksgiving a religious or secular holiday? When did we begin trick-or-treating on Halloween?
Appealing and insightful, America's Favorite Holidays satisfies our curiosity about the origins of our holidays and the fascinating ways in which religion and culture mix.
©2015 The Regents of the University of California (P)2016 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Almost 40 years since its original publication, Drawing Down the Moon continues to be the only detailed history of the burgeoning but still widely misunderstood Neo-Pagan subculture. Margot Adler attended ritual gatherings and interviewed a diverse, colorful gallery of people across the United States, people who find inspiration in ancient deities, nature, myth, even science fiction. In this revised edition, Adler takes a fascinating and honest look at the religious experiences, beliefs, and lifestyles of modern America's Pagan groups.
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Important history lesson but missing elements
- By Waterfall on 09-12-20
By: Margot Adler
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The Bible's Cutting Room Floor
- The Holy Scriptures Missing from Your Bible
- By: Joel M. Hoffman
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Bible’s Cutting Room Floor, acclaimed author and translator Dr. Joel M. Hoffman gives us the stories and other texts that didn’t make it into the Bible even though they offer penetrating insight into the Bible and its teachings. The Book of Genesis tells us about Adam and Eve’s time in the Garden of Eden, but not their saga after they get kicked out or the lessons they have for us about good and evil.
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Good content, rather poor presentation by narrator
- By J_T on 12-28-16
By: Joel M. Hoffman
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The Santa Muerte
- The Origins, History, and Secrets of the Mexican Folk Saint
- By: Gustavo Vazquez-Lozano, Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Colin Fluxman
- Length: 1 hr and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the story of Santa Muerte, the so-called cult of crisis, a red-hot combo of a kermesse (Mexican carnival), Catholicism and New Age; a hedonist practice but involving bodily sacrifice too. It is an expression of economic, psychological and social forces, bigger than perhaps any of her acolytes suspect. This book looks at the folk saint and the manner in which her cult grew. You will learn about Santa Muerte like never before.
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The dude doesn't do his research
- By Trent Kulik on 06-03-24
By: Gustavo Vazquez-Lozano, and others
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Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Bart D. Ehrman
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Dan Brown's immensely popular New York Times best-selling The Da Vinci Code is one of the most successful books of recent history. It has captivated millions the world over with its enthralling suspense and its provocative questions about the true nature of Jesus' life.
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A historian's approach to the Da Vinci code
- By John Mertus on 01-23-05
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms
- Journeys into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East
- By: Gerard Russell
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms, former diplomat Gerard Russell ventures to the distant, nearly impassable regions where these mysterious religions still cling to survival. He lives alongside the Mandaeans and Ezidis of Iraq, the Zoroastrians of Iran, the Copts of Egypt, and others. He learns their histories, participates in their rituals, and comes to understand the threats to their communities.
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Increase your understanding of the Middle East
- By Shaun on 03-17-15
By: Gerard Russell
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Yiddish Civilisation: The Rise and Fall of a Forgotten Nation
- By: Paul Kriwaczek
- Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Tracing Yiddish civilization from its roots in the Diaspora to the present, Paul Kriwaczek combines intimate family anecdote, travelogue, historical research, and interviews with scholars to give us a rich portrait of a nearly extinguished culture as it survived across the centuries. He begins his chronicle in Jerusalem, with the destruction of the Jewish temple at the hands of the Romans in the year 70. We see the burgeoning exile population disperse, moving outward and northward throughout the following centuries, making their mark in more far flung cities under Roman rule.
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Disorganized, inconclusive and disappointing
- By Alex on 12-15-20
By: Paul Kriwaczek
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Nicholas Black Elk
- Medicine Man, Missionary, Mystic
- By: Michael F. Steltenkamp
- Narrated by: Charles Henderson Norman
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Since its publication in 1932, Black Elk Speaks has moved countless readers to appreciate the American Indian world that it described. John Neihardt’s popular narrative addressed the youth and early adulthood of Black Elk, an Oglala Sioux religious elder. Michael F. Steltenkamp now provides the first full interpretive biography of Black Elk, distilling in one volume what is known of this American Indian wisdom keeper whose life has helped guide others. Nicholas Black Elk: Medicine Man, Missionary, Mystic shows that the holy-man was not the dispirited traditionalist commonly depicted in literature....
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Great overview of little known subject.
- By cosmitron on 09-06-18
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The Book of Yokai
- Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore
- By: Michael Dylan Foster
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Drawing on years of research in Japan, Michael Dylan Foster unpacks the history and cultural context of yokai, tracing their roots, interpreting their meanings, and introducing people who have hunted them through the ages. In this delightful and accessible narrative, listeners will explore the roles played by these mysterious beings within Japanese culture and will also learn of their abundance and variety through detailed entries on more than 50 individual creatures.
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Pt 2 was delightful (+no cringey pronunciations!!)
- By Julieanne on 06-04-19
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The Lost Gospel
- Decoding the Ancient Text That Reveals Jesus' Marriage to Mary the Magdalene
- By: Simcha Jacobovici, Barrie Wilson
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Waiting to be rediscovered in the British Library is an ancient manuscript of the early Church, copied by an anonymous monk. The manuscript is at least 1,450 years old, possibly dating to the first century, Jesus' lifetime. And now, The Lost Gospel provides the first-ever translation from Syriac into English of this unique document that tells the inside story of Jesus' social, family, and political life. The Lost Gospel takes listeners on an unparalleled historical adventure through a paradigm-shifting manuscript.
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Very well-crafted but uses lot of sketchy material
- By Leifen on 01-09-18
By: Simcha Jacobovici, and others
What listeners say about America's Favorite Holidays
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Ben
- 12-03-19
Exactly what I was hoping for!
A lot of this basic information can be gleaned by reading Wikipedia's entries for each holiday, but I really liked the way Forbes ties it all together with a A-leads-to-B-leads-to-C kind of logic. This is fascinating stuff that will make you think about how our cultures have adapted, morphed, and melted things together to create the customs we enjoy. It helped me to realize not just how new a lot of our customs really are, but how humans and changing times have changed the narrative on what we believe to be true. More than most books I listen to, this one really flew by quickly. It's well-organized and concise, and I really liked the narration. I rarely give 5 stars across the board, and I even more rarely write reviews on here. I really enjoyed this one.
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Overall
- Anonymous User
- 01-10-21
Christianity, not holidays
I picked this but because I thought I'd learned something about holidays. I was an hour into it when I realized that it's technically about Christianity and the holidays that surround it. Now, this is okay for people who don't believe anything existed before Christianity but that doesn't tell us where these holidays came from that Christianity stole. If you can't tell me that then there's nothing there of relevant interest because claiming it's about holidays isn't true.
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3 people found this helpful