As uplifting as the tale of Scrooge itself, this is the story of how one writer and one book revived the signal holiday of the Western world.<br><br>Just before Christmas in 1843, a debt-ridden and dispirited Charles Dickens wrote a small book he hoped would keep his creditors at bay. His publisher turned it down, so Dickens used what little money he had to put out <i>A Christmas Carol</i> himself. He worried it might be the end of his career as a novelist.<br><br>The book immediately caused a sensation. And it breathed new life into a holiday that had fallen into disfavor, undermined by lingering Puritanism and the cold modernity of the Industrial Revolution. It was a harsh and dreary age, in desperate need of spiritual renewal, ready to embrace a book that ended with blessings for one and all.<br><br>With warmth, wit, and an infusion of Christmas cheer, Les Standiford whisks us back to Victorian England, its most beloved storyteller, and the birth of the Christmas we know best. <i>The Man Who Invented Christmas</i> is a rich and satisfying read for Scrooges and sentimentalists alike.<br><br><br><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>