Whitman in His Own Time: A Biographical Chronicle of His Life, Drawn from Recollections, Memoirs, & Interviews by Friends & Associates Book

I picked up this book because I wanted to know more about the history of Christmas and its traditions. This book did not really fulfill my wants. For one, I couldn't really follow the conclusions. For example, the author claimed that Santa Claus gets a lot of his characterization and following from Odin. Okay, that is a bold claim that I was willing to follow. The problem was that his support wasn't really there. I read the whole thing thinking that I was reading badly done (or at least badly argued) history.

I also had a problem with the writing style. It was extremely bland and too flowery in places that it didn't need to be. All in all, I would pick another book if you wanted to read about the history of Christmas.