Santa's Whiskers
(From back cover) “The best kind of scholarship, a labour of love, and it lacks only Levi-Strauss and illustrations.” – Anthony Burgess, Times Literary Supplement
“[Jones] has recounted the history of Nicholas’s cult from its beginnings in fourth-century Asia Minor, through the Western Middle Ages . . . to its ‘second childhood’ (Jones’s phrase) in nineteenth-century New York. Jones’s knowledge of the sources is excellent. . . . Anyone wanting to know how a supposed bishop in Asia Minor eventually became Santa Claus must read this book.” – John Van Engen, Religious Studies Review
“[Saint Nicholas of Myra, Bari, and Manhattan] is the best single study of Saint Nicholas in English and the best account of where Santa Claus came from and how he got here.” – Frank J. Coppa, Biography
“An excellent interdisciplinary study for medievalists.” – Julia Bolton Holloway, Journal of the American Academy of Religion
“A most unconventional book. Filled with literary and linguistic learning, it is a bold and very personal statement of his views regarding history and civilization and [St. Nicholas’s] place in their development.” – John M. McCulloh, American Historical ReviewSaint Nicholas of Myra, Bari, and Manhattan
Charles W. Jones
Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1978, 558 pp.