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Tinsel

A Search for America's Christmas Present

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Tinsel

Written by: Hank Stuever
Narrated by: Ray Porter
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When Stuever's narrative begins, he's standing in line with the people waiting to purchase flat-screen TVs at Best Buy on Black Friday, the opening of the Christmas shopping season. From there he follows a number of key residents of Frisco, Texas, as they navigate through the nativity and all its attendant crises: Tammy Parnell, an eternally optimistic suburban mother and proprietor of "Two Elves with a Twist," a company that decorates other people's houses for Christmas; Jeff and Bridgett Trykoski, owners of that one house every town has, the house visible from space with the brightest and most awe-inspiring Christmas decorations; and single mother and Bank of America employee Caroll Cavazos, who hopes that the life-affirming moments of Christmas might overcome the struggles of the rest of the year.

Steuver's portraits are at once humane, heartfelt, revealing - and very, very funny. Tinsel is a compelling tale of our half-trillion-dollar holiday, measuring what we've become against the ancient rituals of what we've always been.

©2009 Hank Stuever (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Christian Living Christianity Customs & Traditions Holidays Popular Culture Social Sciences
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Critic Reviews

"With impeccable research and solid reporting, Stuever has written the gift book that keeps on giving - Christmas consumerism wrapped together with traditional family values." (Publishers Weekly)
"Insightful, funny/sad, filled with poetry and despair; who better than Hank Stuever to take on the Christmas Industrial Complex with such ultimate humanity, given that he writes like an angel." (David Rakoff, author of Don't Get Too Comfortable and Fraud)
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