Annotated Christmas Carol

Rating:
Summary: "A Christmas Carol" in its proper historical context
Review: Charles Dickens almost singlehandedly rescued what we in the early 21st Century consider "traditional" Christmas celebrations from extinction. His crusade against the Industrial Revolution's Utilitarianism, and Mammonism (Scrooge is the archetypal Utilitarian) is part of the reason behind this story. Some folks who know something of early Victorian England see that when they read this classic. But for most of us this underlying theme, plus the colloquial 19th Century English are a mystery.
The "Annotated Christmas Carol" neatly solves this issue by fully explaining the story behind the story, and defining some of the more obscure contemporary references. Dickens basically wrote the story because he needed money quickly: his previous novel was only lukewarmly received by the public. Additionally, his desire to awaken a social consciousness in the British upper-class led him to a short story format. Given his long standing committment to keeping the celebrationsn of Christmas alive, the result is, for the English-speaking world anyway, as much a tradition as a tree and presents.
The format is exactly as that for the first edition published in 1843, along with reproductions of Leech's original illustrations. Well researched and written notes in the columns allow the reader to follow along with explanations of terms, identification of likely locations, and the development of the ongoing theme. The book could likely benefit with a new edition, as the commentary seems to be written around 1975 or so. Even so, this is a book that any Dickens enthusiast will want to own, any Christmas Carol enthusiast for that matter...
Highly Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A must for Dicken's fans
Review: I was fortunate enough to be able to borrow this book from a friend. He suggested it for research into the ghost of Jacob Marley which I am playing in a local production. Amazing book! All the information you could want on this Christmas Classic. The book is broken into very informative sections begginning with "Marley's Ghost" and continuing through all the spirits and other background information. I highly recomend it, if you can find it that is!

Rating:
Summary: A must for Dicken's fans!
Review: I was fortunate enough to have been able to borrow this book from a friend, He suggested it for research use into the figure of Marley's Ghost which I am playing in a local production. This book is full of everything you might want to know about "Christmas Carol". It is broken into five chapter's, four of which deal with each of the spirits contained in the story. Picture's and drawing abound in this text, making it invaluable to me as an actor trying to create a character. Right down to an original drawing of Dicken's on his death bed and re-prints of sketches from the very first printing of the book, it's all there and by the author himself...what could be more diffinitive? If you can procure a copy I highly recommend it.