Torching the Fink Books and Other Essays on Vernacular Culture [Paperback]

Archie Green (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 4, 2000

Archie Green--shipwright, folklorist, teacher, and lobbyist--is a legendary figure in the field of American folklore and vernacular culture studies. An inspiration to a generation of students and scholars, Green is known for the remarkable passion, intelligence, and curiosity he brings to his explorations of everyday people, their communities, their work, and their forms of expression.

This book gathers twelve essays intended to represent the range of Green's writings over forty years. Selections include a study of folk depictions in the art of Thomas Hart Benton, investigations of occupational and labor language, and a contemplative account of personal and political morality in the study of Appalachian musicians. In an afterword, Green traces his career and reflects on the state of folklore as a discipline today.

Woven through the foreword by Robert Cantwell is Green's biography, key to understanding his unique mix of activism and scholarship.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Few folklorists have so keenly observed such changes and shifts or articulated their significance as well and as variously as Archie Green has in this collection and in his life's work. (Journal of Folklore Research)

[This book] is a best-of-Archie Green collection, which makes this book the best from one of the most influential folklorists of the last half-century. (Austin American-Statesman)

When next someone asks me 'What is a folklorist?', I will tell them to read Torching the Fink Books by Archie Green. (Peggy A. Bulger, Director, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress)

Archie Green's work unites a critical and political stance with a deeply humane ability to celebrate the dignity of people, their communities, and their forms of expression. (Burt Feintuch, University of New Hampshire)

About the Author

Archie Green is a sixty-year member of the Shipwrights Union, a retired professor of folklore and English at the University of Texas at Austin, and the author of numerous books on labor lore, language, music, and art. A driving force behind passage of the American Folklife Preservation Act of 1976, Green remains active in the John Edwards Memorial Forum, studying vernacular music. He lives in San Francisco.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press (December 4, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807826057
• ISBN-13: 978-0807826058
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,424,913 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required reading for any trained folklorist, March 18, 2002

By 

Jacqueline L. McGrath - See all my reviews

This review is from: Torching the Fink Books and Other Essays on Vernacular Culture (Paperback)

This eloquent and deeply engaged collection of Green's essays (some previously printed)covers topics ranging from the expressive nature of labor lore and the intersections between ethnicity and labor, to folk music and cowboy culture and the words-often implicated in cultural politics--used to describe them, to the archival detective work necessary to illuminating such strands of culture. Green's work in these articles is etymological and historical, tracing the development and current use of a term, idea, or practice. This is a book that is an essential read for any professional folklorist, be she "academic," "public," or "applied," as it is a primer for committed fieldwork and arts advocacy. Green himself has long advocated for public programming that is culturally equitable, and his knowledge of public sector work and his contributions to it helped pave the way for National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities support for vernacular arts. This book is a testament to the variety and art of people he has long championed.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Essays on Folklore, History, and Public Culture, January 24, 2004

By 

grasshopper4 (Arkansas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Torching the Fink Books and Other Essays on Vernacular Culture (Paperback)

A great anthology of Archie Green's writings, this book provides a record of excellent writing with insights into why the writer integrates scholarship with effective activism. The range of Green's interests includes topics as diverse as occupational practices, etymology, and country music. He writes with fascinating insights concerning all his interests, and the articles and essays stimulate one's curiousity about related topics. Among the finest contributions to this volume are those that pertain to public folklore. Green provides conscientious and inspiring rationales for the essential need to initiate and coordinate programming that returns folklore research to the public. Robert Cantwell's introduction provides a fine context for stitching together the various threads that connect Green's interests in folklore.