Thomas Ruys Smith

#ScholarSunday Thread 262 (2/8/26) – Black and White and Read All Over Whether you’re most excited for the Super Bowl, the Puppy Bowl, or the Superb Owl, start tailgating early with my 262nd #ScholarSunday thread of public scholarly writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming b...

Whether you’re most excited for the Super Bowl, the Puppy Bowl, or the Superb Owl, tailgate with my 262nd #ScholarSunday thread of public scholarly writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, share widely, & enjoy, team! 🗃️

blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

The Joy of Six: stories of love in sport A father helping a son across the line, Kevin Sinfield’s inspirational friendship with Rob Burrow and more – when devotion to others takes centre stage

I wrote Joy of Six: love. www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/j...

Zeke gives our student-edited edition of Hawthorne’s Wonder-Book for All Very Good Boys and Girls 47/10 and recommends that you trot over to Children’s Corner Critical Editions to get a copy for pedagogy or pleasure today!

@thomasruyssmith.com @jordanstein.bsky.social @officialbaas.bsky.social

#ScholarSunday Thread 256 (12/28/25) – Black and White and Read All Over I know I said that last week’s #ScholarSunday thread was the final regular one of the year, but y’all did too much good work this week to ignore—so here’s a Christmas bonus, my 256th thread of public ...

I know I said last week’s #ScholarSunday thread was the year’s final one, but y’all did too much good work this week to ignore—so here’s a Christmas bonus, my 256th thread of public scholarly goodness from the past week! Add more below, share widely, & enjoy! 🗃️

blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

Medieval Londoners’ cheaply imported mass-produced Christmas gifts look surprisingly familiar We often imagine medieval life as dull, dirty and short, with little in the way of material comfort or decoration. However, medieval Londoners were importing toys, treats and trinkets by the boatload ...

Did medieval people buy each other Christmas gifts? New Year's Day was the main gifting day, but little is known about everyday people's present giving. Our project on London's customs records has uncovered a wealth of affordable items imported around this time: gloves and hats to toys and rattles🧵

Why is Santa So American? Podcast Episode · America: A History · 12/16/2025 · 47m

For @thisistheheff.bsky.social's America: A History Podcast, @thomasruyssmith.com and I talked about how the American Santa came into being and the many lives he has lived since.

#ScholarSunday Thread 255 (12/21/25) – Black and White and Read All Over Here it is, the final regular #ScholarSunday thread of 2025, my 255th thread of great public scholarly writing, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, please sha...

Here it is, the final regular #ScholarSunday thread of 2025, my 255th thread of great public scholarly writing, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, please share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️

blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

Everything you need to know about Christmas, and how it has evolved into a global holiday Originally a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus, Christmas has evolved into a global cultural event.

I had a great chat with Luis Andres Henao for this fun @apnews.com Christmas explainer:

Mark Twain – London, England - The New Territory Magazine A ruined corner of London that will always be a little paradise for Twain’s ghost. Literary Landscapes by Thomas Ruys Smith.

Mark Twain & Dollis Hill—a ruined corner of London that will always be a little paradise for Twain’s ghost. #LiteraryLandscapes by @thomasruyssmith.com. #MarkTwain #DollisHill #GladstonePark #London newterritorymag.com/literary-lan...

If you’re looking for some gift ideas, please allow me to suggest STARTLING TALES OF SANTA CLAUS. 80 pages, self-contained, no ads, great for new comics readers, good for like ages 13+

Thanks for having me!

Enjoyed writing about Mark Twain’s time at Dollis Hill in London for #LiteraryLandscapes 👉 newterritorymag.com/literary-lan...

Podcast! Weird Christmas Baking with Linda Raedisch Or listen at the Podbean site. Craig talks with Linda Raedisch about her new (ahem, 2023) book The Secret History of Christmas Baking: Recipes & Stories from Tomb Offerings to Gingerbread Boys.…

I do actually have a podcast that goes beyond the story contest. It's just kinda been dead for a year.

But I'm trying to bring it back. ;)

Starting with some weird Xmas Baking and Linda Raedisch whose Secret History of Christmas Baking is awesome.

weirdchristmas.com/2025/12/14/p...

Agreed! So I guess it was a happy ending? Vera seems like a safer pair of hands.

Home alone with the dog so we’re watching Good Boy.

Yes, some nice meta moments and a slightly unvarnished Britishness to things which felt interesting.

Interested to know what you think!

So the best new Christmas film so far this year is… ummm…. the Jonas Brothers Christmas movie. Jingle Bell Heist was pretty charming too.

Santa Claus: The Movie at 40 – how a box office flop became a ‘pure panto’ British Christmas staple In the US, Santa Claus: The Movie became an infamous flop, failing to make back its hefty production budget.

Wrote about the 40th anniversary of 🎅 Santa Claus: The Movie for @theconversation.com: theconversation.com/santa-claus-...

Also available on my shop: a new translation by me of 25 Medieval Latin miracles of St Nicholas

www.patreon.com/benitocereno...

Santa Claus is still a woman There is something particularly stubborn about gender roles at Christmas

Santa Claus is still a woman on.ft.com/4oocnEr | opinion

Magic and Legends of Old Christmas part 01: Christmas starts earlier than you think YouTube video by Benito Cereno

Five years on, @benitocereno.bsky.social's video lecture series THE MAGIC AND LEGENDS OF OLD CHRISTMAS is still the best and most accessible general survey of Christmas-adjacent holiday traditions and characters from around the world (predominantly central Europe).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO9E...

Hooray! Thanks for the help!

Book cover of Thomas Ruys Smith's Searching for Santa Claus: An Anthology of the Poems, Stories and Illustrations that Shaped a Global Icon, off white cover background, red and black text, Thomas Nast engraving of Santa Claus pulling back a tapestry or backdrop; his year 1890 changed to 2025. Spine colors in red and green.

A pleasant early Christmas book gift left at the door courtesy of @thomasruyssmith.com and it looks great! A small handful of pieces and names I recognize, but I expect the majority to be completely new to me, so should be a fun voyage of discovery.

Startling Tales Of Santa Claus #1 Six seasonal fantasy-adventure stories to drive the cold winter away!

I want to point out that @benitocereno.bsky.social HAS A SANTA COMIC COMING OUT FROM IMAGE! It's an 80+ page monster with five stories, all drawn by different wonderful artists.

This is not his entire Santa/Christmas mythology... but it's the beginning...

imagecomics.com/comics/relea...

Ah thanks! All props to @bhousepress.bsky.social!

A book: THOMAS RUYS SMITH SEARCHING FOR SANTA CLAUS AN ANTHOLOGY OF THE POEMS, STORIES AND ILLUSTRATIONS THAT SHAPED A GLOBAL ICON

Siiiiick my hard copy of @thomasruyssmith.com ‘s new book is here! This is imo a must-read must-buy and I can’t believe it took so long for someone to do it

Awesome that it reached you already! And thanks!

#ScholarSunday Thread 250! (11/16/25) – Black and White and Read All Over Here it is, a very special--& especially supersized—250th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Please add more ...

Here it is, a very special--& especially supersized—250th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Please add more below, share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️

blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

About this book Christmas is not just a day or a frame of mind as Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) imparts in Miracle on 34th Street (1947); Christmas is also a vehicle for national mythmaking as an idealising mirror for American cultural and political attitudes of a given moment. Via a case study on Hollywood Christmas films released between 1946 and 1961, Selling Out Santa offers an examination of political pressures on Hollywood in the post-war period and the cultural ramifications of federal involvement in the motion picture industry. As the House Committee on Un-American Activities opened hearings in 1947 and the FBI gathered reports on potential communist subversion in Frank Capra’s Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), Hollywood executives began to bend to the socially conservative pressures of this post-war moment. Using Christmas films as the core of this investigation to identify and analyse changes within the genre as they relate to and reflect changes in the wider cultural and political moment exposes for film scholars, students, and non-specialists how these federal and external pressures on Hollywood moulded these holiday favourites throughout the 1950s and set the social standard for decades of Christmas releases.

🎄🎄 CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY 🎄🎄

My book **Selling Out Santa: Hollywood Christmas Films in the Age of McCarthy** was surprise published yesterday! Here's the book description and Barnes & Noble link if you're interested in gifting it to history and film lovers!
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/selling-ou...