December 15, 2008
A Christmas Carol
Written by Charles Dickens
“‘There are some upon this earth of yours,’ returned the Spirit, ‘who lay claim to know us, and who do their bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us.’”
—Stave Three, Page 45
Fun Facts
- A Christmas Carol is part of a series of five Christmas Books: A Christmas Carol (1843), The Chimes (1844), The Cricket on the Hearth (1845), The Battle of Life (1846), and The Haunted Man (1848).
- The work has been adapted for theater, opera, film, radio and television.
- Contemporaries noted that the story’s popularity helped redefine the importance of Christmas and the sentiments associated with the holiday.
- Dickens wrote in the wake of British government changes to the welfare system. He wanted this book to reveal the plight of the poor and society’s responsibility to help them.
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