Book Review: The Man Who Invented Christmas

The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits by Les Standiford
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Let me preface this by saying that I am not a Charles Dickens super-fan. Maybe the writer affectionately known as "Boz" has a fanatical legion of "Swifties" somewhere out there ("Bozzies," perhaps?), but I've never met a "stan" of this literary legend. All that aside, I will declare - without any trace of irony - that A Christmas Carol is an undisputed masterpiece. Say what you will about the plethora of adaptations that have followed in the 180 years since Dickens crafted the supernatural tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, but the original story is so iconic and archetypal that it almost feels biblical - as if it has always existed alongside the stories of Moses, Noah, and Job. The fact that A Christmas Carol has captured the cultural zeitgeist over and over since its publication in 1843 is a testament to the book's timelessness.

But how did Dickens create this seminal piece of seasonally celebrated literature? That is a question that Les Standiford attempts to address with his entertaining entreaty about the novel's creation, The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits. Standiford begins with a brief (but somewhat tedious) overview of Dickens's early life and formative years; once he finally finishes this expanded exposition, however, he gets to the good stuff. Standiford's background information on the cultural evolution of Christmas provides insightful context for twenty-first century readers, and helps dispel some of the widely accepted myths about the holiday's development from second-tier celebration to quintessential festival. Although I've done my fair share of research over the years, some of Standiford's revelations about Boz's role in the transformation of Christmas are eye-opening for this American librarian. Predictably, Standiford does use the death of Dickens as a wrapping-up point, but his examination of A Christmas Carol's legacy is threaded throughout the second half of the book.

In some ways, this tomb is a companion piece for Jeff Belanger's The Fright Before Christmas: Surviving Krampus and Other Yuletide Monsters, Witches, and Ghosts . Like Belanger's beastly book, The Man Who Invented Christmas digs into the pagan origins of the beloved winter holiday - albeit in a much briefer fashion than Belanger. Belanger returns the favor, too, with a section entitled "Marley's Ghost" - an entire chapter about the cultural impact of Charles Dickens and his ghost story.

Although I prefer Nick Hornby's Dickens and Prince: A Particular Kind of Genius , which covers the life and times of Boz with Hornby's signature wit and a more conversational tone, Standiford does an impressive job of condensing Dickens's biography into a digestible "Reader's Digest" version. Where The Man Who Invented Christmas surpasses Hornby's book is in the deeper dive into Charles Dickens and his tenuous relationship with the Christmas holiday season. If nothing else, Standiford's illuminating book will inspire others to read (and reread) A Christmas Carol. And nothing is better at dispelling the misanthropic "Bah, humbug" spirit of the holidays than a cup - or book - of good cheer.

View all my reviews