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duparker's review
4.0
I'm not sure what I liked better the exhaustive review of the history of Thanksgiving, or the overall tone and tenor about the need to be grateful. The author does a solid job of intermingling the two and telling an interesting and non political story. This is a book many people should read.
thomwallacern's review
5.0
This is a book about the history and meaning of Thanksgiving that I didn't realize I needed.
caffeinated_bookaholic's review
3.0
really cool history and I appreciate her effort to establish a historical view of festivals of gratitude in different cultures as well as Thanksgiving as a national holiday, the woman who fought to make it so, and its different implications through time. didn't find it particularly well written with a lot of fluff material, though.
stlkatiek's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.25
Part biography, part history of Thanksgiving as a holiday, part reflection on gratitude, this book had plenty of trivia I intend to annoy my family with at our actual Thanksgiving celebration. (The original idea behind Thanksgiving stemmed from a desire for national unity around joy and gratitude, the commemoration of Pilgrims was incorporated much later amid anti-immigrant and pro-Anglo sentiment.) Some parts dragged a bit for me, but overall this was an interesting read.
I read it because:
Book club read and perfect for November - nonfiction and about the Thanksgiving holiday
I read it because:
Book club read and perfect for November - nonfiction and about the Thanksgiving holiday
wannabemensch's review
3.0
A solid 3.5 stars for this interesting exploration into our modern Thanksgiving with a large focus on its champion, Sarah Josepha Hale. Quick tidbit: our Thanksgiving feast was first tied to the mostly-fictionalized Pilgrim story in the 1930s.
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