Before there were SPACs, before there were meme stocks, before there was the 2008 bailout, there was Wall Street in the 1960s. Today, we remember the sixties for the Vietnam War, assassinations, women’s and gay liberation movements, and the drugs that were changing American culture. Hidden from view, though, was Wall Street, where bankers were living large, and a crisis was brewing that would cause more investment banks to fail than during the Great Depression–and set the stage for the 2008 Wall Street bailout. Finance attorney Richard E. Farley’s forthcoming book, GONZO WALL STREET: RIOTS, RADICALS, RACISM, AND REVOLUTION: How the Go-Go Bankers of the 1960s Crashed the Financial System and Bamboozled Washington (Regan Arts, October 2022) unveils this history for the first time–and shows what this forgotten Wall Street era tells us about finance in 2022.

Finally: Proof of Santa’s Existence and His Impact on Our World. The 200-year legacy of the American Santa Claus as we know him is meticulously documented and explained in author Tom Jerman’s fascinating new book, Santa Claus Worldwide: A History of St. Nicholas and Other Holiday Gift-Bringers.  

Readers will be surprised to learn Santa’s true origin story (hint: it wasn’t in Clement C. Moore’s popular poem, “The Night Before Christmas”), plus they’ll be treated to a deep dive into the backstories of other midwinter gift-givers from all over the globe. Jerman’s exhaustive research is evident in his detailed descriptions, and he masterfully showcases the rich diversity among the characters while also pointing out shared traits.
 

Santa Claus Worldwide is the first legitimate history of Santa Claus in more than a decade, and the first history in more than 100 years to provide a comprehensive look at the Yuletide gift-givers throughout the world.  

Readers will discover:

• How midwinter gift-givers developed over thousands of years;

• The difference between Catholic followers of St. Nicholas and Protestant followers of the secular “terror men” in Europe following the Reformation;

• Historical examples of midwinter gift-givers who were female, Black, rich, gay, atheist and communist;

• When and how a New York printer named William Gilley created the “American Santa Claus” in an 1821 booklet, The Children’s Friend;

• How a wealthy New York professor, Clement C. Moore, bought a copy of The Children’s Friend and, in 1822, wrote “The Night Before Christmas;” and

• How The Children’s Friend disappeared from history until it was rediscovered in 1953. 

Ultimately, Santa Claus Worldwide proves, conclusively, the existence of Santa and his impact on our world.

“Santa indisputably exists as the symbol of Christmas, and Christmas represents our most noble virtues,” Jerman says. “Symbols are real, and they can be very powerful.”