Ghost Dancing on the Cracker Circuit: The Culture of Festivals in the American South (Paperback)

by Rodger Lyle Brown (Author) "It's late on a cold Friday afternoon in January, and an itinerant snakehandling cowboy named Buckley stands on a rise overlooking U.S. Highway 84, which..." (more)
Key Phrases: Mount Airy, Mule Day, Andrew Jackson (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Brown (American studies, Emory Univ.) has traveled across the South attending small community festivals and delving into their origins and traditions. He has created here a social history of small-town Southern communities. Using festivals such as the Rattlesnake Roundup in Whigham, Georgia, and the Chittlin' Strut in Salley, South Carolina, he successfully shows a cross-section of an America rapidly being gobbled up by larger urban areas. He maintains that the festivals are a last-ditch effort to maintain community cohesion and identity. Brown compellingly combines sometimes humorous scenarios from these festivals with revelations on the social significance they might represent. Recommended for public and academic libraries.?Sandra Knowles, Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Inside Flap
A look into deep communal meanings that emerge as small towns stage their annual festivals

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi (February 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878059067
• ISBN-13: 978-0878059065
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,547,330 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, insightful read., March 26, 2000

By	brent kennedy (University of Virginia's College at Wise) - See all my reviews

Roger Lyle Brown has successfully penetrated the mass psyche of the Southern festival culture. At first glance, one might not consider "festivals" to be an engaging topic, but Brown explores this subject like a psychoanalyst, providing real insight into the southern mind via one of its most cherished traditions - the festival. A unique piece of work.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From the Associated Press:, September 9, 1998

By A Customer

"Every so often, a book comes out that is entirely, refreshingly new -- not just in approach and style, but in idea, scope and theme. Rodger Lyle Brown, while doing doctoral work at Emory University, decided to weave his journeys to Southern festivals into a tale that has most ambitious task: to show that the way Southerners celebrate history and heritage is part of a tapestry of melancholy that illustrates the fading of community. He succeeds mightily....For anyone interested in the South, social history or the human condition, this is a book that is not to be missed." --Ted Anthony, Associated Press National Writer. April, 1998.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mediocre, February 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Ghost Dancing on the Cracker Circuit: The Culture of Festivals in the American South (Hardcover)

The author somehow loses his direction from the time he came up with the idea for the book and the time it was written...Though there is a dearth of books in this particular area, Brown misses the opportunity to make it a really spectacular piece, by getting off on lofty,philosphical,anthropological rhetoric which the lay person will find particularly boring. The historical origins of the festivals and the information about the festivals themselves was particularly good....Is this man a true Southerner? His depracating remarks about some of the festival participants would indicate that this is not the case. How can he in good conscience ridicule his Southern "kin"?