In the decades before the Civil War, American society witnessed the emergence of a new form of print culture, as penny papers, mammoth weeklies, giftbooks, fashion magazines, and other ephemeral printed materials brought exuberance and theatricality to public culture and made the practice of reading more controversial. For a short yet pivotal period, argues Isabelle Lehuu, the world of print was turned upside down. Unlike the printed works of the eighteenth century, produced to educate and refine, the new media aimed to entertain a widening yet diversified public of men and women. As they gained popularity among American readers, these new print forms provoked fierce reactions from cultural arbiters who considered them transgressive. No longer the manly art of intellectual pursuit, reading took on new meaning; reading for pleasure became an act with the power to silently disrupt the social order. Neither just an epilogue to an earlier age of scarce books and genteel culture nor merely a prologue to the late nineteenth century and its mass culture and commercial literature, the antebellum era marked a significant passage in the history of books and reading in the United States, Lehuu argues. Originally published 2000. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

Meet Lil' Miss Sugarcane, a little girl with the soul of Carnival running through her veins. She wants nothing more than to be the best Midnight Robber around. With her robber's rhyme, she will tell her origin story as only she can! Witness a determined little girl and her family encounter hurdles along the way and conquer them together! As Lil' Miss Sugarcane works to carve out her individual identity, will she become the BIGGEST BADDEST Midnight Robber there ever was?

Examines the changes in publishing, movie making, and television programming since the 1960s that have affected Americans' tastes.

From handshakes and toasts to chant and genuflection, ritual pervades our social interactions and religious practices. Still, few of us could identify all of our daily and festal ritual behaviors, much less explain them to an outsider. Similarly, because of the variety of activities that qualify as ritual and their many contradictory yet, in many ways, equally legitimate interpretations, ritual seems to elude any systematic historical and comparative scrutiny. In this book, Catherine Bell offers a practical introduction to ritual practice and its study; she surveys the most influential theories of religion and ritual, the major categories of ritual activity, and the key debates that have shaped our understanding of ritualism. Bell refuses to nail down ritual with any one definition or understanding. Instead, her purpose is to reveal how definitions emerge and evolve and to help us become more familiar with the interplay of tradition, exigency, and self-expression that goes into constructing this complex social medium.

"Reminiscent of ... the gritty writings of Studs Terkel and John Steinbeck, with a dash of Jack Kerouac, Tony Horwitz, and even Hunter S. Thompson." Review!"Majestic ... Deep Observations About Life!" -- Chicago Tribune. American OZ is a rollicking, gritty, adventurous story of life in the secretive subculture of traveling carnivals. You'll never see your state fair or street festival the same way again. Comerford writes a bold, inspiring true story of a year working on the road behind the scenes with the colorful characters and legends of carnivals. He shares stories of freaks, a carnival pimp, and the last King of the Sideshows. A dunk tank insult-clown is shot. Masked gunmen rob his carnival. And a young showman friend dies a shocking death on the road. It's a new classic American road story as he hitchhikes to shows in California, New Jersey, New York, Chicago, Alaska, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas, Georgia, and Florida where he works in a freak show. He becomes the #1 hitchhiker in the USA and a top agent at the State Fair of Texas. He travels to the dangerous foothills of Mexico to see the new face of the American carny. He exposes the truths about seasonal work, labor abuse, and living between two worlds. People seek love and meaning in their lives on the road. Comerford finds we're all connected in more ways than we know."An American Masterpiece!" -- Kerry Lavelle, author/lawyer

Chronicles the history and meaning of Mardi Gras through a collection of true stories of Carnival, telling of the first Rex parade, the organization of Comus, the 1908 brawl between African-American and white New Orleanians, and other memorable events.