New Review: The War on Christmas

The following is a brief excerpt from a review posted on PopandPolitics.com:

‘Tis the season to be a polemic!
Actually that’s not really fair. John Gibson, author of the best seller, “Hating America,” and anchor of Fox News Channel’s, “The Big Story,” has written a reasonably rational book cataloging events where the federal holiday, Christmas, seems to be under attack in several school districts and municipalities throughout America. “The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought,” isn’t nearly as bad as the title makes it sound.

First, this is not an opinion piece like an Ann Coulter or Michael Savage book. Gibson editorializes somewhat, but his thoughts are not what comprises most of the volume. Instead, as stated above, what Gibson does is break the book down chapter by chapter based on a town where something happened that appeared to be -- or was absolutely meant to be -- a threat toward the public celebration and recognition of the Christmas holiday. The chapters take place in Covington, Georgia; Mustang, Oklahoma; Baldwin City, Kansas; Plano, Texas; Eugene, Oregon; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Maplewood, New Jersey. The narrative comes from Gibson’s first person interviews with the players of each chapter.

At 29-years-old, I can still vividly remember how my public elementary school in Uniondale, Long Island in New York plastered the halls and classrooms with Christmas trees, Santa Claus, stars (not the Jewish kind) and decidedly secular but appropriate snowflakes. On the calendar, plain as day, it read for the last two weeks of December, “Christmas Break.” This theme followed when my family moved to the other side of Nassau County and I attended Plainedge Public High School. Though my school had a large population of Jewish families, the last two weeks of school were known as the “Christmas Break.” To my recollection, not a single Jewish kid cared in the slightest why they were getting nearly two weeks off from school.

Therein lies the problem, which is the impetus for Gibson’s book. More