Excerpted from Evergreen: The Trees That Shaped America by Trent Preszler, copyright © 2025 by Trent Preszler. The 1955 Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. Even in death, the Rockefeller Center tree exposes a paradox at the heart of Christmas: the uneasy marriage of capitalism and faith, commerce and mythology. The Christmas tree embodies all these tensions. Still, the fleeting presence of Christmas trees every December only heightens their power as seasonal markers and cultural emblems.