Michael Keane is an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy and a former professor at the University of Southern California. He is the author of the illustrated children’s Christmas book, The Night Santa Got Lost, and is a former executive with Digital Domain, a leading visual effects and digital film studio in Hollywood. Keane has also worked in military affairs and was selected as a fellow for the Department of Defense’s highly-competitive National Security Education Program.

"Discover the inspiring, unknown, against-all-odds story of how the classic animated holiday special A Charlie Brown Christmas almost never made it onto television. Professor and cultural historian Michael Keane reveals much in this nostalgia-inducing book packed with original research and interviews. Keane compellingly shows that the ultimate broadcast of the Christmas special-given its incredibly tight five-month production schedule and the decidedly unfavorable reception it received by the skeptical network executives who first screened it-was nothing short of a miracle. Keane explains why the show, despite its technical shortcomings, has become an uplifting and enduring triumph embraced by millions of families every Christmas season, even more than fifty years after its premiere. This gripping and joyful behind-the-scenes story of how the creators of A Charlie Brown Christmas struggled to bring the program to life will also help readers (and loyal fans) understand how America's favorite Christmas special changed our popular culture forever. Keane masterfully weaves the momentous events of 1965 (the turbulent year of the program's production) into his story, providing critical context for a profound new understanding of the program's famous climactic scene, Linus's spot-lit soliloquy answering the question repeatedly posed by Charlie Brown-'Can someone tell me what Christmas is all about?'"--