AMERICAN FOLKWAYS & ERSKINE CALDWELL

   
   For readers or book collectors here is another series to start before summer begins. "American Folkways" books were published between 1940 and 1958 and like the "American Customs Series", about which I have posted, the books will be of interest to those curious about regional histories and local folkways and customs.
   The volumes dealing with areas near our border are likely to be most appealing to Canadians. The review of Niagara Country, is found under this headline, "A Worthy Addition to Americana," and the reviewer notes:
   "There are three sets of books I would not be without: The River Series (Rinehart), The Lake Series (Boobs-Merrill) and The Folkways Series Duell, Sloan & Pearce). All three share an important secret -- the secret of making American regional history readable and fascinating." (Sterling North, The Washington Post, July 3, 1949.) The first two have already been covered in MM.

  The kind of wisdom to be found in such books is evident in the title of a review of Smoky Mountain Country, which is, "Blow Smoke in the Ears." That is how one cures a headache. Humour is also found in the mountains when a witness is asked what he knew about a recent killing:

  "All I know is this," the witness drawled. "We was all up thar at the big dance celebratin' Robert E. Lee's birthday. The fiddles was playin' and we were swinging corners, and the boys got to slappin' each other on the back as they swung. Finally one of them slapped too hard and the other knocked him down. His brother shot that feller, and that feller's brother cut t'other fellers throat, and the feller that was knocked down drawed his knife and cut that fellow's liver out; the old man of the house got mad and run to the bed, turned up the tick and grabbed his shotgun and turned both barrels loose on the crowd, and I saw there was goin' to be trouble and I left."

Good thing he left before the trouble started. (From the review by John N. Popham, New York Times, July 6, 1952.) 

  Twenty-eight volumes were produced for this series and most will be easily found on AbeBooks or elsewhere. Those who live in London and have access to the Western Libraries will only find eleven and a few of those are in other Ontario university libraries. The ones bolded below are the ones available.

                                             AMERICAN FOLKWAYS

Adirondack Country, William Chapman White

Big Country: Texas, Donald Day 

Blue Ridge Country, Jean Thomas 

Corn Country, Homer Croy

Deep Delta Country, Harnett Kane  

Desert Country, Edwin Corle 

Far North Country, Thames Williamson

Golden Gate Country, Gertrude Atherton  

Gulf Coast Country, Hodding Carter

High Border Country, Eric Thane 

High Sierra Country, Oscar Lewis 

The Other Illinois, Baker Brownell  

Old Kentucky Country, Clark McMeekin 

Lower Piedmont Country, H.C. Nixon   Contents Annals of the hills -- Civil War and after -- Worship of industry and business -- Small farms and country stores -- Cities and towns -- Sam Jones and the ol' time religion -- Songs of the hills -- Rustic wit and laughing stock -- Ol' corn liquor -- These are our lives -- Ups and downs between world wars -- Possum trot in wartime -- Labor stirs -- Piedmont politics -- The mind of the hills.

Mormon Country, Wallace Stegner  

Niagara Country, Lloyd Graham 

North Star Country, Meridel Le Sueur 

Ozark Country, Ernest Rayburn 

Palmetto Country, Stetson Kennedy 

Piñon Country, Haniel Long 

Pittsylvania Country, George Swetnam 

Redwood Country: The Lava Regions and the Redwoods, Alfred Powers

Rocky Mountain Country, Albert N. Williams 

Short Grass Country, Stanley Vestal  

Smoky Mountain Country, North Callahan  

Southern California Country: An Island on the Land, Carey McWilliams 

Town Meeting Country, Clarence Mertoun Webster Wheat Country, William B. Bracke

There is even a YouTube video devoted to the American Folkway Series.

The Bonus: Erskine Caldwell

The series was edited by the southern author, Erskine Caldwell. I associated him only with Tobacco Road and magazines such as Gent or Swank, but I was wrong and he is worth a look if you need more reading material. Some of his books were given lurid covers when they were published in paperback to make them sell better. Here are the books authored by Caldwell that are in the Western Libraries and there are more about him. See the Wiki entry for him and this biographical piece at the "Georgia Writers Hall of Fame." He was also married (for a while) to Margaret Bourke-White, with whom he published, You Have Seen Their Faces.

Selected Books by Erskine Caldwell

Afternoons in Mid-America : Observations and Impressions

All Night Long; A Novel of Guerrilla Warfare in Russia.

All-out on the Road to Smolensk.

American Earth.

Around About America.

The Caldwell Caravan : Novels and Stories

Call it Experience, The Years of Learning How to Write.

Certain Women.

Claudelle Inglish

Close to Home.

Complete Stories.

Conversations with Erskine Caldwell

The Courting of Susie Brown.

A Day's Wooing and Other Stories.

Deep South; Memory and Observation.

Episode in Palmetto.

Georgia Boy.

God's Little Acre.

Gulf Coast Stories.

In Search of Bisco.

Jackpot, the Short Stories of Erskine Caldwell.

Jenny by Nature.

Journeyman

Kneel to the Rising Sun, and Other Stories.

A Lamp for Nightfall.

The Last Night of Summer.

Men and Women; Twenty-two stories

Place called Estherville.

Poor Fool

Some American People.

The Sure Hand of God

This Very Earth.

Three by Caldwell: Tobacco Road; Georgia Boy: The Sure Hand of God

Tobacco Road

Tobacco Road : A Facsimile of the Final Chapter

Tragic ground.

Trouble in July.

We Are the Living

When You Think of Me

With All My Might: An Autobiography

You Have Seen Their Faces, (with Margaret Bourke-White)