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Hank Stuever: Tinsel: A Search for America's Christmas Present

The author/journalist takes an unexpected look at the holidays

A A A Comments By Olivia Flores Alvarez Thursday, Nov 19 2009

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According to journalist and author Hank Stuever, Americans spend some half a trillion dollars on Christmas every year, accounting for one-fifth of all shopping purchases in the country. After realizing that Americans of every religious persuasion are annually assaulted for six weeks of what he calls "shopocalypse," Stuever set out to tell a story that captured the enormity of Christmas and its impact on our culture, from the frequent absurdity to the less frequent deeply felt emotions. Stuever found three families which he followed at Christmastime over the next three years, gathering material, both good and bad. The result is the comedic book Tinsel: A Search for America's Christmas Present. Set in the tiny town of Frisco, Texas, Tinselshows its subjects waiting in long lines on Black Friday to buy enormous flat-screen televisions, and decorating McMansions that each have to be bigger and brighter than the next. Then there's the single mom who hopes that the few moments of happiness Christmas brings her family will be enough to see them through the next year. Catch Stuever discussing and signing Tinselwhile the Christmas sale-a-thons are still a few weeks away and shopomania hasn't overruled your senses. 7 p.m. Brazos Bookstore, 2421 Bissonnet. For information, call 713-523-0701 or visit www.brazosbookstore.com. Free.
Mon., Nov. 23, 7 p.m., 2009

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