Paperback / softback | |
December 14, 2004 | |
9780813191423 | |
English | |
272 | |
color illus | |
9.00 Inches (US) | |
6.00 Inches (US) | |
.95 Pounds (US) | |
$25.00 USD | |
v2.1 Reference | |
Electronic book text | |
May 11, 2021 | |
9780813182742 | |
English | |
272 | |
color illus | |
9.00 Inches (US) | |
6.00 Inches (US) | |
$35.00 USD | |
v2.1 Reference | |
Grasping Things
Folk Material Culture and Mass Society in America
America stocks its shelves with mass-produced goods but fills its imagination with handmade folk objects. In Pennsylvania, the "back to the city" housing movement causes a conflict of cultures. In Indiana, an old tradition of butchering turtles for church picnics evokes both pride and loathing among residents. In New York, folk-art exhibits raise choruses of adoration and protest. These are a few of the examples Simon Bronner uses to illustrate the ways Americans physically and mentally grasp things. Bronner moves beyond the usual discussions of form and variety in America's folk material culture to explain historical influences on, and the social consequences of, channeling folk culture into a mass society.
About the Author
Simon J. Bronner is Distinguished Professor of Social Sciences and Dean of the College of General Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is the editor of the four-volume Encyclopedia of American Folklife, Manly Traditions: The Folk Roots of American Masculinities, Consuming Visions: Accumulation and Display of Goods in America, 1880-1920, and other volumes, and the author of several books, including Folk Nation: Folklore in the Creation of American Tradition, Killing Tradition: Inside Hunting and Animal Rights Controversies, Following Tradition: Folklore in the Discourse of American Culture, and The Carver's Art: Crafting Meaning from Wood.
Reviews
"An academic with an eye for human drama, Bronner's firsthand observations include memorable snapshots of rural and small-town men and women struggling to preserve an old-fashioned way of life . . . this thoughtful book makes it clear that folk culture still flourishes in the byways of America."—Kirkus Reviews
"This is the stuff of honest folklore, honestly presented. It embraces the best meaning and philosophy of folklore 'collecting' and scholarship, an enjoyable endeavor for readers and writer."—Journal of American History
"This cleverly titled and richly illustrated study of the interplay between folk material culture and the forces of modern mass society reads like a sampler of small moments of resistance to the massive apparatus of contemporary consumer culture."—Winterthur Portfolio
Paperback / softback | |
December 14, 2004 | |
9780813191423 | |
English | |
272 | |
color illus | |
9.00 Inches (US) | |
6.00 Inches (US) | |
.95 Pounds (US) | |
$25.00 USD | |
v2.1 Reference | |
Electronic book text | |
May 11, 2021 | |
9780813182742 | |
English | |
272 | |
color illus | |
9.00 Inches (US) | |
6.00 Inches (US) | |
$35.00 USD | |
v2.1 Reference | |
Other Titles by Simon J. Bronner
Lafcadio Hearn's America
edited by Simon J. Bronner
Dec 2021
- University Press of Kentucky
$35.00 USD
- Hardback
$60.00 USD
- Electronic book text
The Carver's Art
Simon J. Bronner
Nov 2021
- University Press of Kentucky
$25.00 USD
- Paperback / softback
$30.00 USD
- Electronic book text
Pennsylvania Germans
edited by Simon J. Bronner and Joshua R. Brown
Feb 2017
- Johns Hopkins University Press
$80.00 USD
- Hardback
$80.00 USD
- Electronic book text
Other Titles in SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social
"So Wise Were Our Elders"
John Holmes McDowell
Mar 2025
- University Press of Kentucky
$30.00 USD
- Paperback / softback
$12.95 USD
- Electronic book text
Musical Resilience
Shalini R. Ayyagari
Nov 2022
- Wesleyan University Press
$95.00 USD
- Hardback
$26.95 USD
- Paperback / softback
Community Movements in Southeast Asia
edited by Ryoko Nishii, Shigeharu Tanabe
Sep 2022
- Silkworm Books
$35.00 USD
- Paperback / softback