Folk Nation: Folklore in the Creation of American Tradition » (1st Edition)

This lively reader traces the search for American tradition and national identity through folklore and folklife from the 19th century to the present. Through an engaging set of essays, Folk Nation shows how American thinkers and leaders have used folklore-ranging from Paul Bunyan and Davey Crockett to quilts, cowboys, and immigrants-to express the meaning and mystique of their country. Simon Bronner has carefully selected statements by public intellectuals and popular writers as well as by scholars, all chosen for their readability and significance as provocative texts during their time. The common thread running throughout is the value of folklore in expressing or denying an American national tradition.

Library Journal

This straightforward anthology of essays provides an excellent introduction to folklore as an academic discipline. Historic in approach, it focuses on significant eras, from the Gilded Age of the late 19th century to the postmodern, or "teletronic," age. Following an extensive introductory essay, Bronner (American studies and folklore, Pennsylvania State Univ., Harrisburg) presents 17 texts by notable folk scholars, e.g., B.A. Botkin, John Greenway, John Lomax, Richard Dorson, and MacEdward Leach. Informative headnotes precede each selection. A basic reader that includes ancillary text directed to neophytes, this work is not exhaustive, but it does demonstrate the cultural continuity embodied in the American experience as seen through expressions arising from untutored voices and writings. Bronner, the award-winning author of eight previous books, provides a fine bibliography, but the collection would have been greatly enhanced by inclusion of a subject and name index. Recommended for all libraries, as well as folklorists and students of related subjects. Richard K. Burns, MSLS, Hatboro, PA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.