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The Santa Claus Man: The Rise and Fall of a Jazz Age Con Man and the Invention of Christmas in New York

Amazon.com Price:  $13.18 (as of 12/04/2019 04:46 PST- Details)

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New York Times Bestseller

#1 Amazon Bestseller – True Crime

#1 Amazon Bestseller – Christmas
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Before the charismatic John Duval Gluck, Jr. came along, letters from New York City children to Santa Claus were destroyed, unopened, by the U.S. Post Place of job. Gluck saw a chance, and created the Santa Claus Association. The effort delighted the public, and for 15 years money and gifts flowed to the one group authorized to reply to Santa’s mail. Gluck became a Jazz Age celebrity, rubbing shoulders with the era’s movie stars and politicians, or even planned to erect a vast Santa Claus monument within the center of Manhattan — until Gotham’s crusading charity commissioner came upon some dark secrets in Santa’s workshop.

The rise and fall of the Santa Claus Association is a caper both heartwarming and hardboiled, involving stolen art, phony Boy Scouts, a kidnapping, pursuit by the FBI, a Coney Island bullfight, and above all, the thrills and dangers of a wild imagination. Additionally it is the larger story of how Christmas became the extravagant holiday we celebrate these days, from Santa’s early beginnings in New York to the country’s first citywide Christmas tree and Macy’s first grand holiday parade.The Santa Claus Man is a holiday tale with a dark underbelly, and an very important read for lovers of Christmas stories, true crime, and New York City history.
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