Arkansas/Arkansaw
How Bear Hunters, Hillbillies, and Good Ol' Boys Defined a State
Blevins, Brooks
Hardcover
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BOOK SUMMARY
Who are you calling a hillbilly?
Submit a book reviewBOOK SYNOPSIS
What do Scott Joplin, John Grisham, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Maya Angelou, Brooks Robinson, Helen Gurley Brown, Johnny Cash, Alan Ladd, and Sonny Boy Williamson have in common? They’re all Arkansans. What do hillbillies, rednecks, slow trains, bare feet, moonshine, and double-wides have in common? For many in America these represent Arkansas more than any Arkansas success stories do. In 1931 H. L. Mencken described AR (not AK, folks) as the "apex of moronia." While, in 1942 a Time magazine article said Arkansas had "developed a mass inferiority complex unique in American history."
Arkansas/Arkansaw is the first book to explain how Arkansas’s image began and how the popular culture stereotypes have been perpetuated and altered through succeeding generations. Brooks Blevins argues that the image has not always been a bad one. He discusses travel accounts, literature, radio programs, movies, and television shows that give a very positive image of the Natural State. From territorial accounts of the Creole inhabitants of the Mississippi River Valley to national derision of the state’s triple-wide governor’s mansion to Li’l Abner, the Beverly Hillbillies, and Slingblade, Blevins leads readers on an entertaining and insightful tour through more than two centuries of the idea of Arkansas. One discovers along the way how one state becomes simultaneously a punch line and a source of admiration for progressives and social critics alike.
AUTHOR BIO
Brooks Blevins is the Noel Boyd Associate Professor of Ozarks Studies at Missouri State University. He is the author of Cattle in the Cotton Fields, Hill Folks, and Lyon College, 1872–2002 and editor of Life in the Leatherwoods.
BOOK REVIEWS
"This is an exhaustive investigation into two centuries’ worth of images of Arkansas, from stereotypes of backwardness to romantic ideas of wildness. For a newcomer like myself, this book is a revelation that equips me for living in this complex region, while for natives it should be a welcome review of their state’s representations in the eyes of others. At a time when Americans are re-evaluating once more their priorities and rethinking ideas of progress, urban sprawl, and the environment, this book offers a thoughtful and timely analysis, useful well beyond the scope of its subject. Arkansas will be reimagined many times yet, and this book will be a lasting reference."
—Andrei Codrescu, NPR commentator, LSU Emeritus Professor of English, and
author of Jealous Witness: New Poems
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MORE BOOK INFO
ISBN: 1557289050
Dewey Decimal: 976.7
Library of Congress: 2009018510
Book Publisher: Univ of Arkansas Pr
Language: ENG
No. of Pages: 242
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