How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits

Mostly fascinating book about Charles Dickens' composition of his famous CHRISTMAS CAROL. Very interesting parts about the publication world of his time, so very very different than ours....and that Dickens was not always a success and wrote fast and sometimes angrily against the ghost of bankruptcy which had thrown his father in jail and changed Charles at the age of ten from a middle class young scholar to a penniless factory boy, first awakening Dickens to the misery of the poor. The story of an unusual and driven man. It goes on a bit to cover the last of his career and the end of his life, but it is fascinating to see how this beloved book came to be and the sort of man who was compelled to write it.

Not the most comprehensive or detailed history on Dickens, but it does cover the major details of his life well in a clean, easily readable style. A good read for the junior high and higher student. The book is a "fireside pleasure" as the author, Mr. Standiford states, and is just plain fun.

"The Man Who Invented Christmas" gives us the basic history on Charles Dickens, but also helps us understand how Dickens was a celebrity in mid 1800's London as opposed to the twenty-first's where it is more focused on television, film, music, and sports stars. Fascinating tidbits about how English PM Disraeli, and fellow writer Thackaray crossed paths in the life of Dickens are also included.

When Dickens initially took it upon himself to write and publish "A Christmas Carol," he never could dream how others would take advantage of his work with unauthorized productions and "edited" versions of his novel. In trying to protect "A Christmas Carol through various lawsuits, Dickens lost money and it cost him dearly. Ultimately, he won by his novel becoming the classic it is today.

Excellent bibliography. Great little stocking stuffer for young readers.

JThree
Williston ND

This is a fascinating book about both Dickens, and the development of Christmas traditions. Here are some quotations from the book:

"Faced with bankruptcy, (Dickens) was contemplating giving up on writing fiction altogether. Instead, he pulled himself together and, in six short weeks, wrote a book that not only restored him in the eyes of the public but began the transformation of what was then a second-tier holiday into the most significant celebration of the Christian calendar." (Pg. 6)
"And so, as he walked the streets that night, a new story began to form. His nightly walks continued... until bit by bit his tale took shape, and ... He wept over it, laughed, and then wept again, as bits and pieces swam up before him... those ... creatures who would, with Tiny Tim and Bob Crachit and Scrooge and Marley and all the rest, stamp themselves on Dickens's imagination, and that of the rest of the world, forever." (Pg. 70)
"For all his calculations regarding the undertaking, Dickens was apparently consumed by the emotional power of his own creation." (Pg. 84)
"Dickens had ... good reasons to be apprehensive as publication day for his story approached... Christmas in 1843 was not at all the premier occasion that it is today, when Christmas stories and their Grinches and elves and Santas abound... There were no Christmas cards in 1843 England, no Christmas trees at royal residences or White Houses, no Christmas turkeys... the holiday was a relatively minor affair that ranked far below Easter." (Pg. 103-104)
"...he had in six feverish weeks produced a book ... pointing to the possibility of change, and in such a way that readers everywhere embraced his words and praised him for acknowledging their shortcomings and encouraging them to become more generous and loving." (Pg. 161)
"Indeed, the resonance of the story has remained so strong through the generations that commentators have referred to Dickens as the man who invented Christmas." (Pg. 175)
"Prior to this small moment at the end of Dickens's tale, the traditional bird for the well-provisioned Christmas table in England was the goose, and the impact of 'A Christmas Carol' was said to have sent the nation's goose-raising industry to near ruin." (Pg. 185)
"It is likewise difficult to imagine a true Victorian Christmas without a Christmas tree, though no such object appears in either the text or the illustrations of 'A Christmas Carol.'" (Pg. 188)
"If Dickens did not invent Christmas, he certainly reinvented it." (Pg. 193)

"The Man who Invented Christmas" was quite a different book than I thought it was going to be, but enjoyable nonetheless. The book has much less to do with the history of Christmas than with the history of Charles Dickens and the events in his life that lead up to the creation and publication of "A Christmas Carol."

After a brief scene setting in 1824 of a small boy forced by his father's debt to work in a factory filling bottles with boot-blacking, the story begins in 1843 at a low point in Charles Dickens' life. After souring to the heights of popularity, he learned how fickle fame can be when currently serialized book "Martin Chuzzlewit" is failing to find an audience, and Dickens' financial affairs are looking grim as a result. Dickens desperately needs a hit, and some cash infusion, but he is lost and unconfident. Wandering the streets of Manchester in the early hours, the idea for Scrooge and the Ghosts hits him like lightning, and he knows something special is brewing in his brain.

"The Man who Invented Christmas" goes deep into the facts and figures of Dickens' debt, of the publishing practices of the day and how accounts were tabulated for authors and publishers, how books were bought and sold in Victorian London, the considerations of book-piracy and international copyright laws and all the sundry business points that turn an idea like "A Christmas Carol" into an actual object that can be sold. Dickens paid close attention to every aspect of the book, from the size and shape to the page colors and illustrations.

I was hoping for more of a book about how "The Christmas Carol" revived the holiday of Christmas, at the time a relatively unimportant holiday about on the same scale as Memorial Day is now, something we are vaguely aware of but not really actively celebrating. Author Les Standiford points out that this story is already well-covered in the book The Battle for Christmas, and he didn't want to retread that beaten path. Instead he focused on Dickens the man, and the circumstances in his life before and after "The Christmas Carol," and how the publication of that book affected him as a writer and a man.

The presentation of this book, it must be said, is beautiful. This is absolutely a "present-ready" book that could be slipped into someone's stocking or just put under the tree with a ribbon for accompaniment. You learn much more about Charles Dickens than Christmas, but that isn't a bad thing at all.

So Dickens called his "Christmas Carol," one of the most-read books in the English language, and he meant it in two senses.

First and foremost, he hoped that its publication would lift his sagging fortunes. Wildly popular a few years earlier but now seemingly on his way out as a celebrity author, Dickens hoped that his 1843 Christmas "ghost story" would fill his depleted bank account and return him to the public eye with the power of a sledge-hammer blow. But secondly, he also wanted to draw the public's attention to the want and squalor endured by so many of England's invisible poor, and to do it in a season which gave at least lip service to compassion and charity for all. This was the other hammer blow Dickens hoped to strike.*

Les Standiford's charming little book explores the story behind the "Christmas Carol" by describing in some detail the context of these two hammer blows. It's a well-written and articulately-presented tale. All those who (like myself) received the volume as a Christmas gift will find it a timely and enjoyable read. Moreover, the paper jacket is lovely, mimicking as it does the original "Christmas Carol's" hard cover. (Dickens financed the publication of the book himself, and spared no expense.)

But the book isn't without flaws. An earlier reviewer noted that Standiford pads his account. I don't know that I'd call it "padding," but it certainly is the case that the final 50 or so pages, in which Standiford explores the evolution of Christmas celebrations in England and the US as well as a breathless rundown of Dickens' post-"Carol" years--seem out of place. They tarnish the glow created by the first two-thirds of the book. There's also no original scholarship here. Standiford relies on secondary sources for all his information--even quotations. To give him his due, though, he makes no claim to breaking new ground.

Three and a half stars.
___________
* If Standiford is correct, Dickens hoped to exorcise some of his personal demons as well, those bred by his memories of his miserable childhood. His later David Copperfield apparently laid them to rest.

Over a hundred and fifty years ago, Charles Dickens brought out _A Christmas Carol_. Neither it nor his other novels have ever gone out of print, but this one has sparked more readings, plays, musicals, and films than any of the others, and people who know nothing of Pickwick, Nicholas Nickleby, or David Copperfield do know Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, and Tiny Tim. You might think that _A Christmas Carol_ was just one in a series of successes from the most famous of Victorian novelists, but it came at a time when Dickens was thirty-one years old and had recently done so poorly by his writing he was thinking what else he might do with his life. The great story of how this beloved novel came to be, and its influence on those who have read it ever since, is the subject of _The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits_ (Crown). Les Standiford, who writes fiction and nonfiction and teaches creative writing, has not unearthed new, original sources for this story, parts of which will be familiar to Dickens fans, but he has drawn together parts of Dickens's biography, social and church history of Christmas celebrations, and a depiction of the book and magazine publishing system in Dickens's time to make an entertaining and educational volume that anyone who loves the original book will find fascinating.

Dickens had been a hugely successful author, but in 1843 his public was not being as happy or responsive. In October he spoke at a fundraiser in Manchester, and walked the streets of the industrial city, wondering if his career was coming to an early end. The walks, and the reminders of the economic woes of the city, must have done the trick. The Christmas ghost tale took hold of him, and when he got back to London, he wrote it up in a fever. His publisher was not impressed, and Dickens had to take full responsibility for the book's production. Dickens meant to clear a thousand pounds by the book, and he had every reason to think it was going to do well for him. The public loved it and the reviews were fine. What a shock, then, to get his publisher's account and find that with charges for paper, binding, coloring the drawings, and commission for the publisher, his great success got him 137 pounds. There was a long-term profit from the book, and plenty of goodwill from the public, and so Dickens went on to other successes, never returning to anything like his 1843 nadir. _A Christmas Carol_ helped cement traditions into the Christmas celebration that were practiced by a relative few, like holly, mistletoe, and plum puddings. He didn't introduce these traditions, but he increased their appreciation and he made future celebrants think these steps were more-or-less obligatory. The book does not stress gift-giving, except in its theme of charity. One profound effect was from Scrooge's insistence on the big prize turkey being sent round to the Cratchits'. The traditional Christmas meal had been goose, but Scrooge doomed the goose industry while promoting the new field of turkey farming.

The other thing that _A Christmas Carol_ did was to promote annual Christmas good feeling. If Scrooge can improve himself, we can hope to improve ourselves; if he can keep a charitable Christmas, then so can we. Standiford is certainly right to appreciate the book as a ghost story, but not one that simply amazes or chills. "The beauty of the book is, then, [Dickens's] use of a deceptively innocent form to do such serious work." Dickens was interested in delivering what he called a "sledge-hammer blow" on behalf of the poor and unfortunate. He was nominally Anglican, but he was critical of organized religion, missionaries, and any devout hypocrisy. He produced a counterpart to the Nativity story that was not only secular but pagan, at a time when intellectual forces were about to begin to assault traditional religious thought. He allowed readers to imagine Christmases past, present, and future, and he had the honorable intention of improving them thereby. And millions of us every year take up the volume, or watch a stage presentation or a film (if you have never seen the 1951 Alastair Sim version, that's the one to get). Perhaps it is making us better individuals every year; there is surely nothing wrong with its earnest pedagogy towards charity, compassion, humane working conditions, and celebration of family life. And who will say "Bah, humbug" to all that?

A friend sent The Man Who Invented Christmas to me as a holiday gift. The title intrigued me as I had been told by Dickens scholar David Parker that the popular belief that Dickens revitalized Christmas is false. Parker had presented lots of information to back up his assertion. I glanced through the bibliography and saw that Standiford listed David Parker as one of his sources. He also listed two other Christmas Carol scholars I respect - Michael Patrick Hearn and Fred Guida. That was promising.

However when I read on page 24 about "the memorable scene of Oliver, gruel bowl in hand, innocently asking the poorhouse's Mr. Bumble for `more,'" and on page 28 about the misbegotten waif Nell Humphrey in Old Curiosity Shop, my hopes sank. (For those reading this with fuzzy memories, Oliver asked the workhouse master for "more" and Little Nell's last name is Trent.)

But the book was very readable. I soon found myself eagerly turning pages. Despite the title of his book, Standiford doesn't claim that Dickens invented Christmas though he does say Dickens re-invented it. Then he presents lots of evidence that prove the opposite. He points out the history of many Christmas icons have no relevance to Dickens's A Christmas Carol, such as Christmas trees, Christmas cards, Santa Claus and the giving of gifts. He does claim that the turkey replaced the goose as the center of Christmas dinners as a result of Scrooge choosing a turkey to send the Cratchits.

Most likely the title came from someone in the publisher's marketing department.

It is not a scholarly work, and it is clear that Standiford relied solely on the works listed in the bibliography and did no research from original sources, but since it is appearing in bookstore windows throughout Philadelphia I figure it is going to be a good seller, if not a best seller. And perhaps the more people who read The Man Who Invented Christmas, the more people who will be inspired to read Charles Dickens's works.

(And maybe Les Standiford will read them and learn that Little Nell's last name is Trent and that Bumble is not in the room when Oliver asks for more.)

Two hundred years have passed since Charles John Huffam Dickens was born in Kent in 1812. Between that nativity and his death in 1870 the inimitable "Boz" rose to the top of the heap among English novelists. Just think of such classics as:
Sketches By Boz; Pickwick Papers; Oliver Twist; Barnaby Rudge; Nicholas Nickeby; Dombey and Son; David Copperfield; Little Dorrit; A Tale of Two Cities; Hard Times; Martin Chuzzlewit" Bleak House; Great Expectations; Our Mutual Friend and the uncompleted "The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Despite producing these huge three decker novels,, Mr. Dickens is best known for "A Christmas Carol" the 30,000 word fairy tale set in contemporary London he wrote for the Christmas season of 1843. Standiford and other commentators have labelled Charles Dickens as the man who invented our present day view of Christmas.
How did Dickens do this?
a. In A Christmas Carol the author conveys the holiday warmth of family unity-Tiny Tim and the Cratchits love one another despite their poverty. Dickens sentimental tale fit in nicely with the Victorian ideal of domestic harmony around the hearth.
b. Old Scrooge is converted from a miser into a generous man who shares the joy of Christmas giving of good tidings of great joy to everyone he encounters. Amid the growth of British industry this warmhearted tale caught the public's fancy resulting in huge sales across all classes of English society.
c. The Christmas Carol along with Prince Albert's focus on the family Christmas Tree; shopping for gifts and the new tradition of Christmas cards helped to foster our modern celebration of Christ's birth. Puritanism and Victorian straitlaced piety had kept the holiday low key until the 1840s. The story's mention of turkey for Christmas replaced the quondom English custom of eating goose for the yuletide meal. Christmas began to emerge as the most festive and longed for holiday of the calendar year.
Dickens wrote several other Christmas stories such as "The Bells"; "The Cricket on the Hearth"; "The Battle of Life" and "The Haunted Man" but none matched the popular appeal and longevisty of "A Christmas Carol."
The story was read by Dickens to thousands of listeners during his public reading tours and has been incarnated in countless versions of the tale in plays, movies and cartoons.
Dickens had suffered setbacks in his career just prior to the story's publication. His novel "Martin Chuzzlewit" with episodes set in the United States had not sold well. Dickens was having troubles getting along with his wife Catherine (he would divorce her in the late 1850's after taking up with Ellen Ternan a fetching and young actress with whom he acted in his production of "The Frozen Deep.")
The Man Who Invented Christmas is a good stocking stuffer providing a few hours of reading pleasure. Dickens was a Unitarian whose tale of Scrooge's redemption mirrors the spirit of Jesus Christ the babe born in the Bethlehem stable. An intersting footnote:
Standiford points out that no material gifts are given in "A Christmas Carol.' He further remarks that Tiny Tim probably
suffered from rickets. (Tiny Tim is a fictional character). Scrooge is an old Saxon word for "to squeeze." Anyone who has a budding interest in the life and writings of Charles Dickens could well begin with a perusal of this little gem! Merry Christmas!

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.

While I'm not fully conversant with the gift publishing genre, this has to be a first. Les Standiford and Crown have created something special. The paper, its weight, texture and overall quality as well as the print and general layout appear to be of gift book quality. The text is substantive, and just deep enough for a gift book "ideal".

While not a polemic or a research piece (though it is nicely referenced)the author builds a case, not so much for Dickens' invention of Christmas, but that much of today's Christmas symbolism results from "A Christmas Carol". In doing this he tells the general life of Dickens and how he came to self publish this work under time and financial pressures.

Last year my gift book was Basilica: The Splendor and the Scandal: Building St. Peter's, which I don't think was designed as a gift book, but I made it one. I wasn't aware of this volume, but my receipients will enjoy it next year. I expect it will be in print for years to come, so while I missed it last year, I believe that, like Dickens' works, it will be in print for years to come and I will be one among many gifting it.

In 1843, Charles Dickens was in difficult financial straits. While his first few books had been hits, his latest was selling slowly and bills were due. As he worried over this truncated income, he was one of a group of men who appeared at one of the poorest of the free schools and was appalled by the hunger and poverty he saw, hunger not only physical but emotional and spiritual.

Years earlier Dickens had written a short story about a parsimonious church deacon who is visited by ghosts. Perhaps he could rework that idea...and when the idea struck him, it struck hard: thus A CHRISTMAS CAROL was born.

This little book is a good accounting of Dickens' life at the time of its publication, of the state of London's poor, and of the little regard given to Christmas in that era, since it had been quenched by Oliver Cromwell two centuries earlier. Dickens, of course, did not "invent" Christmas, but he invented a new way of looking at it: not high revelry in rich courts as it had been before the commonwealth, but a family-centered, charity-centered celebration. If you are interested in how Christmas got its start being a family holiday rather than an excuse for drunkenness, you should enjoy Standiford's volume. However, I don't think it's worth the list price placed upon it; this is a good book to buy used or at remainder prices.

Charles Dickens and Christmas celebrations are considered to be synonymous by many people. His most popular and famous book A CHRISTMAS CAROL is second in popularity next to the story of the birth of Christ, at least in English speaking countries. The work is an enduring favorite and has been retold in just about every way imaginable. He wrote the book for two reasons: first he wanted to expose the ills of society, in the case of A CHRISTMAS CAROL the dehumanizing aspects of life in early Victorian England. He also needed the money. Author Les Standiford explores both of these aspects in THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS. As Standiford tells his the story of the writing of this novella and its impact, he concedes that thee result may not have been staggering changes in Victorian England Dickens had hoped for, but it did capture people's imaginations and is a leading factor in reviving the yuletide holiday in England.

Standiford has an obvious love and appreciation for Dickens. The book has extensive biographical information regarding his childhood and rise to literary fame. He handles the information well. The book reads more like a novel than a biography. He also does a good job at showing just how hard Dickens had to work to be such a popular and prolific author and how clever the author could be at earning much needed funds. He also does a good job at showing Dickens as a celebrity and looks at his successes as well as his disastrous trip to the United States.

The only area where I found the book somewhat lacking is in the exploration of faith in the life of Charles Dickens. While Standiford mentions that Dickens had no use for organized religion and religious dogma, he goes so far as to state that Dickens tried to create a secular story of redemption in A CHRISTMAS CAROL, almost replacing the religious story. Certainly there is ample evidence to support Dickens' low regard for dogmatic faith, I'm not sure I agree that he tried to supplant the Christmas story, especially where Bob Cratchit states in the story that seeing Tiny Tim at church on Christmas day should help people believe in the one who came to make the blind see and the crippled walk. While Dickens was at best a nominal Anglican during his lifetime and saw many abuses in his church which he loathed, some scholars would argue that he would have considered himself a Christian and viewed Jesus as an important role model and the example of a religious person. Dickens sometimes referred to his writings as modern parables and rewrote scripture stories to teach his children about the New Testament. If anything, he would be the kind of person we might term today as "spiritual but not religious." Dickens scholar Michael Timko has an excellent article in AMERICA (December 22-29, 2008) titled "No Scrooge He: The Christianity of Charles Dickens" which examines the role of faith in the life of Charles Dickens.

The literary history of Charles Dickens's books and influence on the holiday seasons. The book discusses Dickens role in the publishing of all his books, and how his holiday ghost tale, A Christmas Carol, effected many in Europe and America. This is a worthwhile read if you like Dickens.

Most interesting was this book's depictions of how the world of publishing worked in Dickens's day and the impact his stories had on people. It was unusual to discover that Dickens may have been the first commercial author to see others write "fan fiction" about his stories: there were apparently many different versions of his works in America before the real books appeared in the U.S.

How many times has "A Christmas Carol" been portrayed in film and on television? How many spinoffs and spoofs have we seen with this deceptively simple yet compelling story of redemption and renewal? Polled today, I'm sure an amazing plurality of Americans know this story, it's characters, and its joyous resolution. But how many of us know the author behind the story, or his story, as a matter of fact? "The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits" is a wonderful journey into the mind and imagination of Charles Dickens, and the life events that went into making this oft-told tale.

Les Standiford's book serves as a brief look into the life of Charles Dickens, who, like many of his characters, came from the grime and soot of poor England, to his unlikely rise into literary stardom in the making of some of English's most unforgettable characters. It starts with a brief look into his childhood and meteoric rise as he wrote tales of London's most overlooked citizens. Dickens, through his serial writing, realized the power of appealing to the masses in London, many of whom could easily relate to Twist and Little Nell, oh, more so than relate but identify with these hardscrabble heroes.

Due to some literary missteps, and a fateful trip to America which didn't garner him much more success, Dickens travels to Manchester, England to make a speech in which his vision of society and people as a whole are articulated. Standiford's book suggests (although the connections between the two seem somewhat more coincidental than purposeful) that the speech led Dickens to produce "A Christmas Carol", in addition to trying to rectify his finances, which were starting to decline.

Still, Standiford's recounting of Dickens's writing the novel is interesting and insightful. By the time he gets to the middle of the book, where he starts that story, he's painted a good portrait of 1800's London, and of the author himself, making it interesting and a pleasurable read all the same. You find yourself cheering for the author to succeed (although, obviously, he does), and marvel at how quickly he spins this timeless tale. Does great need and little time produce some of our best work? Standiford seems to suggest so; would Dickens disagree?

I devoured this book quickly, as will anyone on your Christmas list who enjoys books about reading, literature, biography, or the simple tale of "A Christmas Carol". This would make a fine gift for the holiday season, and perhaps, along with an edition of the novel itself? You won't go wrong!

Neither here nor there. A bit repetition in a few spots, but in general a good, short biography of Dickens.

I found it a bit ironic that in the end he made more money off of his public readings than he did from the books themselves, in much the same way bands today make their money by touring, not by their record sales.

This story does not flow or read smoothly. Too much detail at times slows down the narrative. The author seems to include whatever he could find, from an interesting chronicle of Dickenson life to a detailed listing of his debts to what his critics said about his work.

How many times has "A Christmas Carol" been portrayed in film and on television? How many spinoffs and spoofs have we seen with this deceptively simple yet compelling story of redemption and renewal? Polled today, I'm sure an amazing plurality of Americans know this story, it's characters, and its joyous resolution. But how many of us know the author behind the story, or his story, as a matter of fact? "The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits" is a wonderful journey into the mind and imagination of Charles Dickens, and the life events that went into making this oft-told tale.

Les Standiford's book serves as a brief look into the life of Charles Dickens, who, like many of his characters, came from the grime and soot of poor England, to his unlikely rise into literary stardom in the making of some of English's most unforgettable characters. It starts with a brief look into his childhood and meteoric rise as he wrote tales of London's most overlooked citizens. Dickens, through his serial writing, realized the power of appealing to the masses in London, many of whom could easily relate to Twist and Little Nell, oh, more so than relate but identify with these hardscrabble heroes.

Due to some literary missteps, and a fateful trip to America which didn't garner him much more success, Dickens travels to Manchester, England to make a speech in which his vision of society and people as a whole are articulated. Standiford's book suggests (although the connections between the two seem somewhat more coincidental than purposeful) that the speech led Dickens to produce "A Christmas Carol", in addition to trying to rectify his finances, which were starting to decline.

Still, Standiford's recounting of Dickens's writing the novel is interesting and insightful. By the time he gets to the middle of the book, where he starts that story, he's painted a good portrait of 1800's London, and of the author himself, making it interesting and a pleasurable read all the same. You find yourself cheering for the author to succeed (although, obviously, he does), and marvel at how quickly he spins this timeless tale. Does great need and little time produce some of our best work? Standiford seems to suggest so; would Dickens disagree?

I devoured this book quickly, as will anyone on your Christmas list who enjoys books about reading, literature, biography, or the simple tale of "A Christmas Carol". This would make a fine gift for the holiday season, and perhaps, along with an edition of the novel itself? You won't go wrong!

Neither here nor there. A bit repetition in a few spots, but in general a good, short biography of Dickens.

I found it a bit ironic that in the end he made more money off of his public readings than he did from the books themselves, in much the same way bands today make their money by touring, not by their record sales.

This story does not flow or read smoothly. Too much detail at times slows down the narrative. The author seems to include whatever he could find, from an interesting chronicle of Dickenson life to a detailed listing of his debts to what his critics said about his work.

A good, easy to follow biography of Charles Dickens. Different than the movie by the same title, but still an interesting chronology of Dickens life and works. Good explanation of the evolution of the holiday as well.

After reading this book, I see Dickens as an enigma. He seemed to care a great deal for the poor and oppressed, but seemed to be spiritually obtuse. He was capable of being enraged whe he felt his work was not properly compensated for. He divorced his wife of many years for a younger woman.

I kept swing back and forth with my attitude towards him. At times he seems a hero, and at other times not. I do not know much the downplay of spirituality was him or the authors.

There are interesting facts though about the history of Christmas.

This is basically a biography anchored around a Christmas Carol. The title is more an allusion to an independent attribution to Dickens. There is actually very little material on the impact of the book on the celebration of Christmas.

Not meant to be heavy reading the author covers the biography as a light story narrative which is an easy read on how Mr. Dickens transformed the landscape of writing in general and Christmas in particular. Most remarkable is the similarities in his life that we would and do emulate a man from a Victorian age.

Great fun to read about the astronomical success of Dickens' stories. This is an easy read which covers the career of Charles Dickens as well as the history behind The Christmas Carol. The book was published the same year Disney made the story into a great movie.