If someone mentions Santa Claus, many people will instantly conjure an image of a fat, jolly man with rosy cheeks, wearing red and white furs, and clutching a bag overflowing with brightly wrapped gifts.

But the history and lore of Santa runs much deeper than that, and Tom A. Jerman -- a retired attorney and avid collector of all things Claus -- is eager to share that diversity in Santa Claus Worldwide: A History of St. Nicholas & Other Holiday Gift-Bringers.

As the author notes in the preface: "If I accomplish nothing else with this book, it will be to explain that Santa is not necessarily male, white, middle-class, heterosexual, patriarchal, Christian, or capitalist. The diversity of Santa is limited only by your imagination, and ... there are historical examples of midwinter gift-givers who were female, black, rich, gay, atheist, and communist."

The name Santa, Jerman further explains, "describes a large and diverse collection of gift-giving figures who are integral parts of the midwinter and Christmas celebrations that have existed around the world for thousands of years. No nation or religion owns the rights to these figures; they are part of a universal heritage shared by humanity. We should retain and value the diversity in names, appearance, and gift-giving practices, however, because Santa should reflect the diversity that exists among the people of the world."

What follows is an exhaustive examination of the many midwinter celebrations and the associated gift-givers who have flourished throughout human history, many predating Christianity by centuries. Once the early Christian Church decided to co-opt various pagan rites to encourage conversion of the masses, those gift-givers first gained religious identities -- such as the ubiquitous St. Nicholas, among others -- as well as new secular identities to distance the holiday from specific religions.

Readers of Santa Claus Worldwide will learn a lot about the various figures, primarily European, who dominated the holiday season for centuries, as well as the cultures and faiths that led to their invention. Jerman explains in detail how those characters evolved, merged and separated over time, developing new traits or adopting those of their counterparts. Still, many of the holiday gifters retained some degree of individuality ... until more recent times, when the American version of Santa Claus came to dominate the global perspective.

Jerman of course explains how the familiar Santa image came to be, and in the process debunks several long-standing theories that credit the wrong individuals with his creation.

It is obvious throughout the book that Jerman has devoted considerable time and effort to his research, and that his enthusiasm for Santa Claus and his holiday peers is sincere. He seems to derive genuine joy from his topic.

"The role of Santa," he explains in the book, "is that he captures the spirit of this celebration for young and old alike. Santa surely exists as the personification of the spirit of the [sic] Christmas, and those who do not appreciate the reality and symbolic importance of Santa miss the personal and spiritual nature of the Christmas season."

There is no way to fault the thoroughness of Jerman's research. I can only wish that he had teamed up with a co-writer who might have spiced up the narrative a bit. Because, while Jerman's historical perspective is flawless, his presentation is frequently quite dry. Much of the text reads more like a college research paper than it does a history of the world's jolliest elf. He is quite often repetitive, too, so be prepared to see the same facts stated and restated over the course of the book.

If only someone could have taken his data and given it a more entertaining flow and, perhaps, pared down some of the needless repetitions, the book would have been a much more pleasant read.

My only other criticism is the grayness of the text. Jerman, again according to his preface, has collected thousands of figurines, ornaments and cards depicting one or another variant on the Santa/St. Nicholas theme. Given such vivid source materials, then, it bewilders me that the book is presented in page after page of his densely packed narrative. There are relatively few pictures or illustrations, and what we do get are in black and white. I'm surprised Jerman didn't load the book up with colorful images from his own collection, if nothing else.

Overall, though, Santa Claus Worldwide is an enjoyable look at the man, the myth and the merry-making traditions that have helped countless generations of humanity get through the cold, dark winter months with some level of cheer. Anyone with a fondness for Christmas -- or world history in general -- should find it interesting.