About this item
Have you ever wondered why we celebrate Christmas the way we do? In this whimsical book, Jonathan Green tells you all about the fascinating stories behind our most beloved holiday traditions. Make yourself cozy by the fireplace, open up this fully illustrated treasure trove, and learn: Why we sing carols Why we burn Yule logs Why we hang stockings Why we kiss under the mistletoe Why we send greeting cards Why there are twelve days of Christmas And what is figgy pudding? Each chapter explores a different custom and its history: when and where it started, how it has changed over the centuries, and why we still love to recreate it today. You'll learn why holly and ivy are important symbols, who Good King Wenceslas was, and why we eat turkey for Christmas dinner.
About the Author
Jonathan Green is an award-winning author and investigative journalist specializing in narrative non-fiction. His latest book, Sex Money Murder: A Story of Crack, Blood and Betrayal tells the story of the infamous Bronx gang through inside access to gangsters and the federal agents, police officers and prosecutors who took them down.
His first book, Murder in the High Himalaya, won the Banff Mountain Book Competition in the Mountain and Wilderness Category and the American Society of Journalists and Authors Outstanding Non Fiction Book of the Year. The book is endorsed by the Dalai Lama and actor Richard Gere.
Green has reported from Sudan on jihadist militias, the guerilla-controlled jungles of Colombia on the cocaine trade, corruption in oil-rich Kazakhstan and the destruction of the rainforest in Borneo among many other demanding assignments around the globe. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Men's Journal, British Esquire, Fast Company, and British GQ among others.
He has been the recipient of the Amnesty International Media Award for Excellence in Human Rights Journalism, the American Society of Journalists and Authors award for reporting on a significant topic, Environment Story of the Year by the Foreign Press Association and Feature Writer of the Year in the Press Gazette Magazine and Design Awards among many others. His work has been anthologized in the Best American Crime Writing. On winning Exclusive of the Year at the Magazine Design and Journalism Awards the judges said, "It shows Green's painstaking research and dogged determination and belief that a story must be followed to the bitter end."
Jonathan has been interviewed about his work on CNN, the BBC and NPR among others.
