A superb blend of good story-telling and sound scholarship this book provides a fascinating record of what “country New Yorkers” have had to say and sing about themselves as they made their way through three centuries. You'll find stories and songs about pioneers,” Injun fighters,” canallers, outlaws, “uncanny critters,” lumberjacks, farmers lovers, murderers, and tricksters. You’ll even be reminded that piracy and whaling are part of New York’s many-faceted tradition. One chapter examines the origins of New York’s strange place-names. Another is devoted to an engrossing account of New York’s proverbs and folk wisdom.

Bonded Leather binding

Description and analysis of a folk tradition that long has been a rite of passage for children and adolescents. In depth discussion of 19 songs, brief mention of 1,400 others. 65 historic photographs.

Alan Lomax (1915-2002) began working for the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress in 1936, first as a special and temporary assistant, then as the permanent Assistant in Charge, starting in June 1937, until he left in late 1942. He recorded such important musicians as Woody Guthrie, Muddy Waters, Aunt Molly Jackson, and Jelly Roll Morton. A reading and examination of his letters from 1935 to 1945 reveal someone who led an extremely complex, fascinating, and creative life, mostly as a public employee. While Lomax is noted for his field recordings, these collected letters, many signed "Alan Lomax, Assistant in Charge," are a trove of information until now available only at the Library of Congress. They make it clear that Lomax was very interested in the commercial hillbilly, race, and even popular recordings of the 1920s and after. These letters serve as a way of understanding Lomax's public and private life during some of his most productive and significant years. Lomax was one of the most stimulating and influential cultural workers of the twentieth century. Here he speaks for himself through his voluminous correspondence.

Though Satanstoe has been too much neglected by readers of Cooper's time and ours, it is one of his most interesting books, combining nostalgic autobiographical recollections, pictures of manners, action and adventure, and social philosophy in one of the author's happiest experiments in fiction. Ostensibly, it gives a comprehensive view of colonial life and society in New York State in the middle of the eighteenth century, blending all these elements with the narrative skill for which the author has always been famous.

Hislop writes living history. Father Jogues is there, as are Sir William Johnson and Molly Brant, Nicholas Herkimer, DeWitt Clinton, Eliphalet Nott, the Remingtons, Charles Steinmetz, and a host of others. Fur trading, land grabbing, Dutch, Palatines, Yankees, the Battle of Oriskany, the Erie Canal, the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, General Electric are all part of the story of The Mohawk. Hislop's presentation of this unique region is both informative and compelling.

At a time when slavery was spreading and the country was steeped in racism, two white men and two black men overcame social barriers and mistrust to form a unique alliance that sought nothing less than the end of all evil. Drawing on the largest extant bi-racial correspondence in the Civil War era, John Stauffer braids together these men's struggles to reconcile ideals of justice with the reality of slavery and oppression. Who could imagine that Gerrit Smith, one of the richest men in the country, would give away his wealth to the poor and ally himself with Frederick Douglass, an ex-slave? And why would James McCune Smith, the most educated black man in the country, link arms with John Brown, a bankrupt entrepreneur, along with the others? Distinguished by their interracial bonds, they shared a millennialist vision of a new world where everyone was free and equal. As the nation headed toward armed conflict, these men waged their own war by establishing model interracial communities, forming a new political party, and embracing violence. Their revolutionary ethos bridged the divide between the sacred and the profane, black and white, masculine and feminine, and civilization and savagery that had long girded western culture. In so doing, it embraced a malleable and "black-hearted" self that was capable of violent revolt against a slaveholding nation, in order to usher in a kingdom of God on earth. In tracing the rise and fall of their prophetic vision and alliance, Stauffer reveals how radical reform helped propel the nation toward war even as it strove to vanquish slavery and preserve the peace.

This volume provides a historical overview of the development and role of Anglo-Canadian folklore studies in Canada and their relationship to similar research conducted with respect to French Canadians, minority groups within Canada, within the wider Canadian context, and at the international level.