Les Standiford -- Last Train to Paradise & The Man Who Invented Christmas -- Gables

Start: Dec 2 2011 8:00 pm

Celebrate the holidays and history with the one author who can bring them together and to life – Les Standiford. The brand-new Commemorative Centennial Edition of Last Train to Paradise (B&B Press, $60) opens our eyes once again to Les’ fast-paced and gripping true account of the extraordinary construction and spectacular demise of the Key West extension of Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway. In celebration of the railroad's centennial, this commemorative hardcover edition is richly illustrated with more the 150 images from the Flagler Museum Archives. This well-researched treatise features a sumptuous silver foil embossed cloth cover.

From a titan of Florida history to one of literary history, Les will also be sharing the story behind the story of our Christmas spirit with The Man Who Invented Christmas (Broadway, $14.99) -- and just in time for the Yuletide season! Just before Christmas in 1843, a debt-ridden and dispirited Charles Dickens wrote a small book he hoped would keep his creditors at bay. His publisher turned it down, so Dickens used what little money he had to put out A Christmas Carol himself. The book immediately caused a sensation. And it breathed new life into a holiday that had fallen into disfavor, undermined by lingering Puritanism and the cold modernity of the Industrial Revolution. Both books make perfect holiday gifts for Scrooges and sentimentalists alike.