Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
Summary:
Who made the first snowman? Who first came up with the idea of placing snowballs on top of each other, and who decided they would use a carrot for a nose? Most puzzling of all: How can this mystery ever be solved, with all the evidence long since melted? The snowman appears everywhere on practically everything -- from knickknacks to greeting cards to seasonal sweaters we plan to return. Whenever we see big snowballs our first impulse is to deck them out with a top hat. Humorist and writer Bob Eckstein has long been fascinated by this ubiquitous symbol of wintertime fun -- and finally, for the first time, one of the world's most popular icons gets his due. A thoroughly entertaining exploration, The History of the Snowman travels back in time to shed light on the snowman's enigmatic past -- from the present day, in which the snowman reigns as the King of Kitsch, to the Dark Ages, with the creation of the very first snowman. Eckstein's curiosity began playfully enough, but soon snowballed into a (mostly) earnest quest of chasing Frosty around the world, into museums and libraries, and seeking out the advice of leading historians and scholars. The result is a riveting history that reaches back through centuries and across cultures -- sweeping from fifteenth-century Italian snowballs to eighteenth-century Russian ice sculptures to the regrettable "white-trash years" (1975-2000). The snowman is not just part of our childhood memories, but is an integral part of our world culture, appearing -- much like a frozen Forrest Gump -- alongside dignitaries and celebrities during momentous events. Again and again, the snowman pops up in rare prints, paintings, early movies, advertising and, over the past century, in every art form imaginable. And the jolly snowman -- ostensibly as pure as the driven snow -- also harbors a dark past full of political intrigue, sex, and violence. With more than two hundred illustrations and a special section of the best snowman cartoons, The History of the Snowman is a truly original winter classic -- smart, surprisingly enlightening, and quite simply the coolest book ever.
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Back to the future
Customer Rating:
One can imagine a number of histories written over the years, but Bob Eckstein, the author of the highly enjoyable "The History of the Snowman", has added one more. His story, told from modern-day backwards, looks at the snowman in lore, advertising, art and society. Richly illustrated, the author has compiled a narrative that's unusually informative, given the subject.
We all know "Frosty" but I'll bet most people don't know there's not much written or illustrated about snowmen in Eskimo culture. (Eckstein tells us why) There's much more, too, and some of the most fascinating parts of the book unfold in later chapters. "The History of the Snowman" is warmly presented and lots of fun to read.
Great Fun
Customer Rating:
The History of the Snowman is great fun and makes a terrific present. It's smart, surprising, youthful and totally hip all at the same time. There's lots of great anecdotes and history backed-up with wonderful illustrations, cartoons, and historic and cool photographs. It might not make you cry -- but it'll make you laugh and think differently about this familiar snowy icon.
A Snowman For All Seasons
Customer Rating:
Bob Eckstein's excellent and offbeat book is often lumped in with seasonal yuletide tomes during December at brick-and-mortar-stores, but it shouldn't be for two important reasons. First, unlike most holiday books that are skimpy beneath their handsome covers, Eckstein's book is deeply researched, superbly written and wryly funny. It looks at the history of snowmen from every angle (the use of raffish, Dean Martinesque snowmen in U.S. print ads during the 1930s; the involvement of snowmen in Blaxplotiation films; the significance of snowmen in a variety of European countries; etc.) Secondly, even though it focuses on frozen figures made possible by wicked-cold weather, its rich scholarship makes it a fun read whether you're brrr-ing in Boston or baking in Brazil. From first page to last, it provides excellent writing, fascinating archival images and Eckstein's own funny, off-kilter illustrations.
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About The Snowman * But Were Afraid to Ask
Customer Rating:
In his intro, Bob Eckstein says, "I am well-versed in the pastimes and recreational habits of centuries past, as well as enjoy an unhealthy obsession for the snow, the Artic, and history minutiae (e.g., as a boy I inexplicably studied things like the Christmas party aboard the Hansa, a ship that explored the Artic in 1870)." He also writes he's married to an obsessive collector who "accumulates anything and everything" and that he had his wife spend a lot of time going from auctions, yard sales and flea markets to "feed their addiction for collecting things."
Right away you realize the author's a pretty quirky guy and this is a pretty quirky book. While the History of the Snowman doesn't hold together as well as it should as a narrative story, the various chapters can be seen as almost separate essays (some are quite humorous), so you can dive in and out of the book and come back to different parts whenever you want.
Eckstein, who's an illustrator, has clearly taken great care in assembling a very impressive collection photos, drawings, cartoons, and old ads that all relate to--you guessed it--the snowman. In that sense, it's a small-format coffee-table book and I think some people will choose to peruse it rather read ever word. Either way, it's a book that puts a smile on your face and makes you thankful for man's unhealthy obsessions.
The Snowman is very cool
Customer Rating:
Delightful, I enjoyed this book while sipping hot cocoa. I especially loved the pictures -- never knew there were so many sides to the snowman.
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