Mac Jackson Says About It: This book celebrates the life and times of Poughkeepsie army major and land-holder Henry Livingston, Jr. (1748–1828), the true author of that classic of popular culture, "The Night Before Christmas." Mary Van Deusen's lively writing is enhanced by a wealth of evocative illustrations. Her research has been exceptionally thorough, and many primary documents are reproduced. Livingston's ancestors, relatives, and descendants belong in the story, so that biography is extended into fascinating family and social history. Included are many examples of Livingston's verse and prose. The quest to prove that he composed "The Night Before Christmas" is related in detail, and there is a clear description of the research that established the truth. Livingston's engaging personality shines through this account, which vividly conjures up a bygone age.

Soft Cover from Amazon Kindle Edition Sample Pages

Soft Cover from Amazon Kindle Edition Sample Pages

ABOUT MY BOOKS

Henry Livingston, Jr., The Christmas Poet You Always Loved Kindle Edition: 449 pages with 140 illustrations, 95 references The Night Before Christmas: Soft Cover 32 pages with 32 illustrations from 14 vintage editions; one page text; glossy stock The Night Before Christmas Kindle Edition: 114 pages, with 89 illustrations from 21 vintage editions; about twenty-five pages of the story of Henry, and the quest to prove his authorship- at children's reading level; Appendix of Illustrations by Author Trice Happy Poetry Soft Cover: 48 pages with 174 postcard illustrations of 14 poems about beautiful women, approx. 4 per page; one page text; glossy stock Thrice Happy Poetry Kindle Edition: 182 postcard illustrations of 14 poems about beautiful women, 1 per page; one page text

A limited number of autographed copies of soft cover books are available at a special price

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MAC'S CONCLUSIONS

"It must be emphasized that the most significant tests conducted here are not of lexical items whose presence or absence depends on content. They are of the frequencies of common words such as "the,"    "on,"    "as,"    "at,"    "to,"    "that,"  "would," and "some"; locutions such as "many a" and "in vain"; and phoneme pairs comprised of the last phonetic symbol in one word and the first in the next. These elements of composition are not readily subject to imitation. Their rates of use are largely beyond a writer's conscious control. They distinguish Moore's verse from Livingston's and they classify "The Night Before Christmas" with the latter. The reasonable conclusion is that "The Night Before Christmas" was composed by Henry Livingston."