Our holidays lie near the heart of our emotional life, enjoyed for a fortnight, fed on imagination for eleven months of the year. What we want from our holidays tells a lot about who we are and what we wish we were. In this charming account, Fred Inglis traces the rise of the holiday from its early roots in the Grand Tour, through the coming of Thomas Cook and his Blackpool packages, to sex tourism and the hippie trail to Kathmandu. He celebrates the bodily pleasures of generations of tourists - from Edwardian banquets in Paris to fish and chips on the beach, from the Bright Young Things on the Riviera to the chosen hardships of the sea, the desert wastes and the mountain tops. He considers the ideals and the spiritual aspirations which are part of what we look for in a holiday, but he also warns of a darker current - how we have increasingly destroyed what we take most pleasure in and how the dealings between those who have much and those who have little, can seldom, however good our intentions, avoid the taint of exploitation.

Fred Inglis traces the rise of the holiday from its early roots in the Grand Tour, through the coming of Thomas Cook and his Blackpool packages, to sex tourism and the hippie trail to Kathmandu.

Raisin and Rice are two Manhattan mice who live in the storeroom in a deli, which is filled with delectable treats. What better way to enjoy Christmas than with a delicious feast? Includes a recipe for Rice and Raisin Treats. Full color.

Food and history combine in this exploration of the Dutch influence on American holiday traditions. Includes more than one hundred easy-to-make holiday recipes. Delicious December mixes food and history in a celebration of Dutch and American Christmas traditions. In more than one hundred tried-and-true recipes, award-winning food historian Peter G. Rose draws on traditions that date back to the Middle Ages, as well as her own reminiscences of her native country, and suggests many ways to incorporate these true Dutch treats into American celebrations. The book not only talks about the history and recipes of St. Nicholas Day celebrations, but also about Dutch specialties for Christmas and New Year’s. Rose includes recipes for savory cookies and party treats as well as menus and recipes for the parties that might happen between the feast days. Divided into two parts, part one discusses the history of St. Nicholas, how he was brought to America and became Santa, and the other changes that have taken place here as well as in the Netherlands. The second part consists of 111 recipes that are easy to make and easy to love. Delicious December is for anyone interested in food and history, and those of Dutch descent will find many old favorites here, together with new, fresh ideas based on long traditions. ADVANCE PRAISE FOR DELICIOUS DECEMBER “Peter Rose is a national treasure, a rare writer who understands history and a very specific place, and in this book she uses that knowledge to leave me wanting nothing more than Christmas (or a holiday if you prefer, or a long, snowy afternoon) in the Hudson River Valley and beyond. This is a wonderful book!” — Molly O’Neill, author of One Big Table: A Portrait of American Cooking: 600 Recipes from the Nation’s Best Home Cooks, Farmers, Fishermen, Pit-masters, and Chefs “What a treat! Not only does Peter Rose provide us with an enjoyable history of Santa Claus but also with seasonal recipes of treats to enjoy while reading. Now, when asked about St. Nicholas, Sinter Claes, or Santa Claus I can safely refer people to a reliable source.” — Charles T. Gehring, Director, New Netherland Research Center “Delicious December is really two great books in one, revealing the little-known Dutch origins of American Christmas traditions, while also bringing into American kitchens dozens of lovely, festive Dutch recipes that few American cooks have ever heard of. Like a wonderful Christmas present, this book gives us historical insights we have long wished for—as well as delicious surprises we did not even know to ask for.” — Stephen Schmidt, food historian and author of Master Recipes: A New Approach to the Fundamentals of Good Cooking “Peter Rose knows more about Dutch life and lore than anyone I’ve ever come across, and she’s done it again! This exuberant excursion into the world of Christmas reveals the Dutch roots of many of our holiday traditions and, best of all, provides us heaps of richly tempting recipes to make everyone’s favorite season even more memorable.” — Nach Waxman, owner, Kitchen Arts & Letters, Inc. “A must-read for those interested in the origin of Santa and lovers of feel-good holiday season food.” — Rob de Vos, Consul-General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to New York

Written for everyone who loves and is simultaneously driven crazy by the holiday season, Christmas: A Candid History provides an enlightening, entertaining perspective on how the annual Yuletide celebration got to be what it is today. In a fascinating, concise tour through history, the book tells the story of Christmas—from its pre-Christian roots, through the birth of Jesus, to the holiday's spread across Europe into the Americas and beyond, and to its mind-boggling transformation through modern consumerism. Packed with intriguing stories, based on research into myriad sources, full of insights, the book explores the historical origins of traditions including Santa, the reindeer, gift giving, the Christmas tree, Christmas songs and movies, and more. The book also offers some provocative ideas for reclaiming the joy and meaning of this beloved, yet often frustrating, season amid the pressures of our fast-paced consumer culture. DID YOU KNOW For three centuries Christians did not celebrate Christmas? Puritans in England and New England made Christmas observances illegal? St. Nicholas is an elf in the famous poem "The Night Before Christmas"? President Franklin Roosevelt changed the dateof Thanksgiving in order to lengthen the Christmas shopping season? Coca-Cola helped fashion Santa Claus's look in an advertising campaign?

History of Christmas from Bethlehem to today Bible readings, questions, recipes and activities Beautiful colour illustrations

Holidays in the Danger Zone exposes the mundane and everyday interactions between two seemingly opposed worlds: warfare and tourism. Debbie Lisle shows how a tourist sensibility shapes the behavior of soldiers in war—especially the experiences of Western military forces in “exotic” settings. This includes not only R&R but also how battlefields become landscapes of leisure and tourism. She further explores how a military sensibility shapes the development of tourism in the postwar context, from “Dark Tourism” (engaging with displays of conflict and atrocity) to exhibitions of conflict in museums and at memorial sites, as well as advertising, film, journals, guidebooks, blogs, and photography. Focused on how war and tourism reinforce prevailing modes of domination, Holidays in the Danger Zone critically examines the long historical arc of the war–tourism nexus—from nineteenth-century imperialism to World War I and World War II, from the Cold War to globalization and the War on Terror.