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First published in 1939, Nebraska: A Guide to the Cornhusker State was collaboratively written by the Federal Writers? Project (FWP). As part of the Works Project Administration, the FWP gathered together some of the best writers of the era. Collectively, they undertook a nationwide initiative to record information about America and create comprehensive guides to their respective states. The wonderful results were a well-written blend of travel guide, ethnography, local history, and cultural document. This guide to the Cornhusker State brought together Nebraska writers such as Weldon Kees, Mari Sandoz, and Loren Eiseley. These respected authors created a remarkable compendium that includes chapters on the state?s history, environment, peoples, flora and fauna, government, agriculture and industry, folklore, architecture, art, and literature. Rewarding reading for the armchair traveler and a companion for the tourist, Nebraska captures an era and makes accessible to readers information that is not readily available outside archives.

Louise Pound (1872 1958) was a distinguished literary scholar, renowned athlete, accomplished musician, and devoted women s sports advocate. She is perhaps best remembered for her groundbreaking work in the field of linguistics and folklore and for her role as the first woman president of the Modern Language Association. A member of a distinguished Nebraska family that included her brother, the prominent legal scholar Roscoe Pound, Louise completed her undergraduate education at the University of Nebraska. When American universities wouldn t admit her for graduate study, she went on to obtain a PhD in Heidelberg, Germany. She returned to the University of Nebraska Lincoln to teach in the English department for the next forty-five years. As a scholar Louise crusaded for the serious study of American English and founded the field s leading journal, demolished a powerfully defended approach to the study of American folk song, and fought tirelessly to open athletic and professional opportunities for women. She was, in short, what one admirer called a universal wonder. She befriended and played an influential role in the life of the young Willa Cather during Cather s years at the University of Nebraska; H. L. Mencken praised her extravagantly; and scholars of literature, folklore, and dialect studies elevated her to the presidency of their professional societies. Readers of varied interests will find her story compelling.

First published in 1939 and never before available in a paperback edition, this remarkable compendium of Nebraskiana includes chapters on the state's history, natural setting, flora and fauna, Indians, government, agriculture and industry, ethnic groups, folklore, architecture, art, and literature. Far more than a tour guide, it is replete with all manner of colorful and unusual sidelights on Nebraska places and people, the kind of information not readily accessible outside of archives. Tom Allan, veteran roving reporter for the Omaha World Herald, has written a new introduction which bridged the years between 1939 and 1979 an reveals some of his own off-the-beaten-path discoveries. Rewarding reading for the armchair traveler and an indispensable companion for the tourist, Nebraska: A Guide to the Cornhusker State will delight and inform all those interested in Nebraska and the Great Plains region.

The twenty essays that comprise this book, which was first published in 1994, were written by leading paremiologists and folklorists from Africa, Canada, Great Britain, Germany and the US. They represent the best scholarship on proverbs in the English language, and together they give an impressive overview of the fascinating advances in the field of paremiology.

Americans have a gift for coining proverbs. "A picture is worth a thousand words" was not, as you might imagine, the product of ancient Chinese wisdom -- it was actually minted by advertising executive Fred Barnard in a 1921 advertisement for Printer's Ink magazine. After all, Americans are first and foremost a practical people and proverbs can be loosely defined as pithy statements that are generally accepted as true and useful. The next logical step would be to gather all of this wisdom together for a truly American celebration of shrewd advice.A Dictionary of American Proverbs is the first major collection of proverbs in the English language based on oral sources rather than written ones. Listed alphabetically according to their most significant key word, it features over 15,000 entries including uniquely American proverbs that have never before been recorded, as well as thousands of traditional proverbs that have found their way into American speech from classical, biblical, British, continental European, and American literature. Based on the fieldwork conducted over thirty years by the American Dialect Society, this volume is complete with historical references to the earliest written sources, and supplies variants and recorded geographical distribution after each proverb.Many surprised await the reader in this vast treasure trove of wit and wisdom. Collected here are nuggets of popular wisdom on all aspects of American life: weather, agriculture, travel, money, business, food, neighbors, friends, manners, government, politics, law, health, education, religion, music, song, and dance. And, to further enhance browsing pleasure, the editors have provided a detailed guide to the use of the work. While it's true that many of our best known proverbs have been supplied by the ever-present "Anonymous," many more can be attributed to some very famous Americans, like Ernest Hemingway, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, J. Pierpont Morgan, Thomas Alva Edison, Abigail Adams, and Ralph Waldo Emerson, to name but a few offered in this fascinating collection.Who wouldn't want to know the origin of "the opera ain't over till the fat lady sings?" This uniquely American proverb and many more are gathered together in A Dictionary of American Proverbs. A great resource for students and scholars of literature, psychology, folklore, linguistics, anthropology, and cultural history, this endlessly intriguing volume is also a delightful companion for anyone with an interest in American culture.