Magazines: A Black Christmas

Esquire magazine ran a full-page color portrait of the Three Wise Men seen as contemporaries: they turned out to be Evangelist Billy Graham, Playboy Hugh Hefner and the psychedelic professor, Timothy Leary. Cosmopolitan advised readers suffering from "holiday neurosis" to consult a psychiatrist for Christmas. The lead piece in the Reader's Digest concerned a housewife so exhausted by her Christmas chores that she finally broke down alongside her dishwasher: "Tears filled my eyes. Suddenly, it all seemed too much: the dirty dishes, the too-tight schedule. Christmas didn't seem worth it."

To...

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