Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas (Stories Behind Books)

Book Description

These true, fascinating stories of the inspiration, heartache, trials, and faith that inspired some of the greatest Christmas carols, hymns, and popular songs will enrich the joy and celebration of the Christmas season.

Customer Reviews:

Great read - but too small.......2007-01-11

The book and information was wonderful. A very nice read. However - stick to the original size. This miniature edition is a little TOO miniature... only about 1 inch square.

Good for modern songs, bad for older ones........2006-11-05

The author should quote his sources, because others in the future may take his statements for fact, when some of the stories are not backed up by other authors / researchers. I have found conflicting information about some of the music both in print and online. A Google search will lead you to different versions and also different background info on "The Twelve Days of Christmas", for example. Also, though I am no musicologist, I would consider a christmas song as being secular, and a christmas carol as being about sacred topics, i.e. Jesus, Joseph, and Mary. In contrast, The "Reader's Digest Merry Christmas Songbook" is pretty good about (briefly) explaining the backgound / history of the selections (plus it has the music) and almost every one of the popular songs, but it does not always have all of the verses of the songs.

Sloppy research.......2006-03-02

For someone with 50 books to his credit--as per the dust jacket--Collins is highly sloppy in the research of this book. As has been previously noted, he just presented a common story about the origins of "Silent Night" without necessarily having done any deep research. And the comments about "The Twelve Days of Christmas" come straight from a silly internet piece, with no basis in fact.

This is common throughout this book. It seems more often than not, Collins has just done some cursory internet research and then slapped it all together and called it good.

Some other screw-ups: Irving Berlin was worried that "White Christmas" wasn't really a good song. Actually Berlin, upon introducing it to his office staff and musical secretary, refered to it as "not only the greatest song I've ever written, but the greatest song ever written." Berlin at one point had plans to make White Christmas the main production number in a major Broadway revue. In performing it for Crosby and studio execs, Berlin got nervous with himself and choked in performing it. You can read about this in Jody Rosen's excellent book on White Christmas, called "White Christmas."

As for his assertions about the meaning and origin of the term Merry in merry Christmas, he gets it wrong again. Ten minutes in the Oxford English Dictionary, available at any decent public library, would have given him the answers.

Better Books on this subject are Rosen's afforementioned book and "The Penguin Book of Christmas Carols" ed. Ian Bradbury.

Inspire Your Heart and Mind .......2005-12-17

Did you ever wonder how your favorite Christmas hymns and carols came to be written? Where were they first sung and why? Who are the people behind them? What events in their lives, what discoveries of faith, inspired these beloved songs into being? Ace Collins has complied a lovely little book to help you find out.

For instance, here you will find everything from "Angels from the Realms of Glory" to "White Christmas". (Yes, there are some popular songs sprinkled in among the hymns and carols!). Do you know...

...What favorite hymn was written the Christmas that the church organ conked out? (Yes, I know some of you know the tale, but it is here for those who don't).

...Which one was a faithful Christian's response to the carnage of the War Between the States?

...Which hymn was penned with a visit on horseback to the village of Jesus' birthplace fresh in the writer's memory?

Ace Collins relates the stories, both familiar and fresh. He helps the reader not only wonder as they wander through the holidays but also figure out who Good King Wenceslas was and why he is worth singing about after all these years. Collins is the author of over fifty books including "Turn Your Radio On" and "The Cathedrals". All of these stories are accompanied by the words of the carols and hymns, so you can sing or hum along as you read about them.

This book would be a great devotional book or family conversation starter to use throughout the Advent season, with 31 different stories to inspire your heart and mind throughout the wondrous season. It is small enough to serve as a great stocking stuffer and lovely enough to be a stand-alone gift for any number of people on your Christmas list.

Big disappointment.......2005-01-20

I was expecting accurate information regarding the history of Christmas songs and carols. Instead, Ace Collins has taken some facts about the carols and woven fairytales around them. In some cases he has taken a few facts and assumed results that are erroneous.

Having personally researched "Silent Night" in Austria, I can say for certain that Collins has presented another fanciful story based on some facts and some misconceptions about the world's best-loved carol.

The tale about "The Twelve Days of Christmas" being a secret catechism for Catholics in the period when they were oppressed in England doesn't make any sense. The "secret" Catholic beliefs it supposedly hides are identical to the Protestant beliefs of that era. Therefore there was no reason to keep them secret from Protestants -- 1 = one God, 2 = Old and New Testament, 3 = gold, frankincense, and myrrh -- and so on.

Sadly, it's just another feel-good Christmas book when it could have been a valuable resource for people wanting accurate information.

More Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas

Average customer rating:

More Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas
Ace Collins
Manufacturer: Zondervan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

History & Criticism | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Gifts | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 031026314X

Book Description

Ace Collins helps you uncover the background of thirty-two favorite Christmas songs. Learn the surprising tale of how each song was created. Explore specific times and places that gave birth to each message. Hear these familiar melodies with new understanding as their stories find their way into your heart.

Book Description

Nonparametric estimation and inference is becoming increasingly popular in economics because of the advent of extensive computing power and the development of efficient computer algorithms. Papers in this volume present techniques that permit inference that is robust to deviations from conventional parametric assumptions. The volume is divided into two sections. The first section contains papers concerned with methodology while the second section contains papers that emphasize the application of nonparametric techniques to practical problems.

Customer Reviews:

middle ground.......1999-07-07

parkin's macro text, like his micro text, provides a rudimentary, yet comprehensive, survey of macro econ. it is good for students who have a slight grasp of economics and would like to know more about it. parkin does a good job of explaining and introducing the fundamental concepts. more advanced econ students or individuals with a base of economic knowledge, spend your time and money somewhere else

Book Description

There's a Possum in the House is a close-up look inside a southern trailer park and the people who live there. Hilarious throughout, yet sometimes poignant, it draws you into the world of one of the most misunderstood and often maligned cultures of the South. As presented in these pages, the characters will entertain you immensely and perhaps give you a new perspective on a very old cliché. There's a Possum in the House is a diary of daily living that has to be experienced to be understood. The warm and funny tales that keep you laughing from beginning to end will help answer the age-old questions: What do rent and car bumpers have in common? How do you get a sofa through a window? Does winning the lottery make you rich? How do you use duct tape? Can you rewire a trailer with an extension cord? Do you know the difference between a redneck and a good ole boy? There's a Possum is the House is a collection of true stories that you will remember and chuckle about for a long time to come.

Customer Reviews:

Great Book!.......2006-07-07

This book was the funniest book I have read in a long time! The stories had me going from start to finish!

READ THIS BOOK!!
It's GREAT!!!!

I'm a 12-year trailer park resident -- this book is JUNK!.......2006-05-16

Don't waste your money. Nothing funny here! Maybe, it's the base writing. I wouldn't pay $1 on EBAY, HALF, ..., after reading it. I can see why it was published overseas (not USA). Can't rate any lower, $15 lost. Sorry, just the facts, ma-am!

Book Description

"If only I do not die here."

After falling ill during a visit to Bayreuth, Franz Liszt uttered this melancholy refrain throughout his final days, which were spent in rented rooms in a house opposite Wahnfried, the home of his daughter Cosima and his deceased son-in-law Richard Wagner. Attended by incompetent doctors and ignored and treated coldly by his daughter, the great composer endured needless pain and indignity, according to a knowledgeable eyewitness. Lina Schmalhausen, his student, caregiver, and close companion, recorded in her diary a graphic description of her teacher's illness and death. Alan Walker here presents this never-before-published account of Liszt's demise in the summer of 1886.

Walker, whose three-volume biography of Liszt was praised as "without rival" by Time, states that "no one who is remotely interested in the life and work of Franz Liszt can remain unaffected by the diary." Schmalhausen's tale of neglect, family indifference, and medical malpractice was considered so explosive at the time of its writing that it was kept from public view. The twenty-two-year-old Schmalhausen was regarded with suspicion by many in the composer's inner circle, as well as by other confidants, and a sanitized and inaccurate depiction of Liszt's death made its way into the history books.

For this volume, Walker has overseen the translation and thoroughly annotated the eighty-one-page handwritten diary, and added a selection of illustrations. A prologue contains important background information on Liszt himself and on Lina Schmalhausen's diary. An epilogue discusses the funeral and ensuing controversies over disposition of the composer's remains.

Customer Reviews:

Sad look into Liszt's last days before his death.......2007-09-25

This is a very accurate tale of Franz Liszt's final days. Walker's source is the diary of Liszt's student Lina Schmalhausen. Schmalhausen was a pupil, caregiver and confidante of Liszt in his last years. Her diary covers July 22, 1886, to August 3, 1886, the day of Liszt's funeral in Bayreuth. Its contents include the daily comings and goings around the dying Liszt and her very personal comments on events and many of the people involved. We hear from Liszt on topics such as his personal keepsakes, his students, human relations and romances. And, of course, the powerful figure of Cosima, Liszt's daughter and Wagner's widow of three years, is present throughout the book. She faced overseeing the performances and social events of the Bayreuth Festival while her dying father was close by. Schmalhausen gives a daily account of this situation. When I first got this book I thought, is the diary of Schmalhausen reliable? Walker does caution the reader to view her interpretation of the facts in the light of her relations with Liszt, Cosima and several other Liszt pupils, relations which he presents to the reader. Walker's prologue and epilogue gives a sad revealing look at friends and family of Liszt arguing over where he should be buried among other things. This is a wonderful book and I have read it many times. There are also eight black and white photos in the book. I think any one interested in Franz Liszt would enjoy this book.

Quite an addition to the Liszt literature! But look at the source of the find! .......2007-05-06

My compliments to the reviewer "Klavierspiel" who captured the essence of the book and in passing also mentioned that it also bears the touch of what many [myself inclusive] consider to be "the" authority on Franz Liszt, Dr. Alan Walker. Just as a quick sidebar: It's my own view that Dr. Walker's quite excellent biographical trilogy is quite simply the definitive Franz Liszt. Keep alert for Amazon vendors offering the 'hardcover' 'used' editions of these otherwise pricey tomes [in hardcover] because with a little patience I was able to get literally mint hardcovers from 3 separate Amazon vendors for 'very' reasonable and greatly reduced from original hardcover list [no pun intended!] prices.

Anyway and the known 'sanitized' versions that exist of Liszt's demise not to mention the fact that Lina Schmalhausen herself was the object of some friction by others [simple envy that the 'master' took a liking to her .. and her care of him?] , but I go with the diary and Dr. Walker. And this too from someone who was 'there' which only adds, IMO, much credence to the matter with regard to the personal treatment of Liszt albeit of a 'non' medical nature by his own daughter, Cosima Wagner : Let the conductor, Felix Weingartner also speak, and I quote, "The Wagner family gave no outward sign of mourning. The daughters wore black dresses but that was all. We had confidently expected that at least one of the festival performances would be cancelled [...] If at least the flag on the roof of the theatre had been removed or hung at 'half-mast' [sic] ... But nothing, nothing at all was done to show outward reverence to his memory. Not even the receptions in the Villa Wahnfried were interrupted. Everything was made to look -- as if on purpose-- that Franz Liszt's passing was not of sufficient importance to dim the glory of the Festivals even temporarily by a veil of mourning. From that day on I never entered the portals of Wahnfried again." [sic -- "The Book of Musical Anecdotes", Norman Lebrecht, The Free Press, 1985 hardcover edition, p. 151].

Rather telling, I would say, or put another way, 'Der Stoff zum Nachdenken' [food for thought] in more ways than one! I think Dr. Walker should be commended for not just his own valuable contributions via his truly magnificent 3 volumes on Franz Liszt but also making this discovery of the unpublished Schmalhausen diary part and parcel of the Liszt biographical literature. And if the reader will bear with one additional sidebar: I'm still trying to figure out the literal jihad that Clara [Wieck] Schumann had later on in life with Franz Liszt. Another puzzler with all sorts of conjectured 'whys and wherefores' but nothing definitive there either save for the wags to call it a "cobra/mongoose situation" but the 'why' of it is still puzzling! But back to the Schmalhausen diary: to be colloquial about it, it's quite an eye-opener! And I thoroughly trust the source of the diary find, editor and examiner, Dr. Alan Walker.

Doc Tony

A must-read for Liszt enthusiasts.......2005-11-22

Alan Walker is generally recognized as the foremost authority on the great Franz Liszt, piano virtuoso, composer, and teacher, born in Hungary but claimed by all of Europe. After Walker's monumental three-volume biography it would have seemed that hardly more could be added to the Liszt tale; yet this slender book is an essential supplement.

Lina Schmalhausen was one of Liszt's lesser piano pupils and, from several accounts, not a human being of total integrity. She was openly despised by many in Liszt's inner circle of relatives, students and friends--Walker correctly warns the reader against taking all of her judgments at face value. Yet a genuine affection appears to have existed between her and the increasingly frail Liszt during his final years; certainly Schmalhausen was a devoted friend and caregiver (the jury remains out on whether there was an actual romantic attachment between the two), to whom the composer left some of his original manuscripts and other valuables. She visited him during his fatal journey to Bayreuth in the summer of 1886, and her firsthand written account of Liszt's last days on earth, in pain, largely immobile, racked by spasms of coughing, makes for harrowing reading. Even more painful is the indifference and incompetence of the relatives, servants, students and doctors who should have helped him and instead ignored him (his daughter Cosima, who was more preoccupied with running the festival of her late husband's work), or gave him incompetent medical advice and treatment that needlessly increased his suffering and may even have caused his death. Long suppressed and/or ignored by authorized Liszt scholars and biographers, Schmalhausen's diary has been edited, readably translated, extensively annotated (occasionally to excess, the only small drawback) and given a prologue and epilogue by Walker that sets the material in context.

Book Description

This volume takes its cue from the greater visibility of men's studies in the 1990s. It interests itself in the way that mass media do not so much "reflect" masculinity in society as "teach" it, by creating or reinforcing its images. The ideas of many books and articles of particularly the last two decades are synthesized to show the range of masculinities. While these publications normally deal with one specific medium apiece, the present study considers four distinct, if related, media: movies, television, advertising, and sports coverage (especially on television and in newspapers).

Book Description

Drawing on recent work on cultural theory, anthropologist Dorothy Anger examines the televised product and the industry that spawns it in order to understand the impact of the soaps on society. Particular attention is given to the ways in which the implicit messages of the soaps reflect and help to generate conceptions of gender roles in different societies to provide a "continuing renewal of the familiar".

Book Description

The Comprehensive Guide to Screening SAP Basis Candidates Certification Questions, Answers, and Explanations! It' s clear that SAP Basis is one of the most challenging areas in SAP. Finding resources can be difficult. SAP Basis Certification Questions, Answers, and Explanations guides you through your learning process. From helping you to assess your Basis skills to evaluating candidates for a job, SAP Basis Cer tification Questions will put you on the path to understanding what you really need to know. The book is organized around three areas of SAP Basis - Technical installation, Troubleshooting, and Production Support. Each question includes everything you need to know to master the interview or properly evaluate a candidate. More than just a rehash of SAP documentation and sales presentations, each question is based on project knowledge and experience gained on successful high-profile SAP implementations. Key interview topics include: . The most important Basis settings to know . Basis Administration tables and transaction code quick references . Certification Examination Questions . Oracle database, UNIX, and MS Windows Technical Information . User Management, Transport System, Patches, and Upgrades . Backup and Restore, Archiving, Disaster Recover, and Security . Everything a Basis resource needs to know before an interview

Customer Reviews:

SAP BASIS interview questions is not helpful.......2007-08-09

This book is not really helpful for job seekers. Answers are not pretty descriptive. It is not worthful for the cost.

The book is for preparing the interview.......2006-07-13

This book is to prepare the interview for the employer who recruit a SAP Basis Administrator or the candidate. In my opinion, this book is not enough for SAP Basis Certification exam preparation. Buy this book before the interview, but not the certification exam.

SAP Basis Certification Questions: SAP Basis Interview Questions, Answers, and Explanations.......2006-06-27

The book does not provided enough detail information as to how and what should be. Do not agree on certain answers given. If there are more than one way then other ways should be mention. For the price this book is not worthy. If you have SAP market place access most of the info is in OSS or help.sap.com.

very good book.......2006-06-16

I believe that one of the hardest aspects of
SAP Basis is understanding what is important
to learn, and what you can safely ignore.

Nobody knows it all in this business. What I
do believe is good about this book is that
it provides listings of transaction codes,
true, but also I like the Question and Answer
format - it has helped me understand the
problems that I face as a SAP Basis consultant
and SAP Basis Interview Questions, Answers,
and Explanations is basically a tool that I
haved used to help me prepare for interviews
and it has also helped me understand which areas
I need to learn more.

So I do believe that this is a good book, and I
would give it a positive review. I would like
to see more introductory materials, perhaps,
but the vale of the transaction codes and the
questions is good enough for me.

I wouls also purchase the SAP Basis guide from SAP PRESS.

good reference to help you land a SAP Basis job.......2006-06-16

There are many people who would like these books to go away - they are revealing so called "secrets" in the industry which insiders don't want just anyone to have access to. Especially SAP Basis and SAP Security topics which are really quite simple. Basis and Security people are eager to slam this book because it is so useful.

It has only what you need: transaction code listings, important tables, and important default settings.

The book also includes dozens of real world problems that are encountered.

So the issue is not that the book is worthless. It has value.
It is not, however a replacement for training courses or real experience on projects.

Many people would have you believe that you cannot break into SAP by reading a book - but this is as close as you can get to learning just what you need to know to get the job, and not wasting thousands on training.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books