Davy Crockett's Riproarious Shemales and Sentimental Sisters: Women's Tall Tales from the Crockett Almanacs, 1835-1856 (Hardcover)

~ Michael A. Lofaro (Editor) "Do the names Florinda Fury, Katy Goodgrit, Hippotamus Zephyr, Sal Fink, Comfort Crockett, and Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett draw only a blank?..." (more)
Key Phrases: riproarious shemales, thar war, grotesque description, New York, Crockett Almanacs, Davy Crockett (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

These amusing tales were originally published in The Crockett Almanacs, a series of humorous almanacs that appeared between 1835 and 1856 and were narrated by Davy Crockett, the superhero from Tennessee. While 18th-century almanacs had served as guides for practical problems, like weather predictions, by the 19th century they had become popular sources of entertainment. The Crockett Alamanacs were the longest-running comic almanac of the period. Lofaro has gathered together the Crockett tales dealing with women, or backwoods "shemales," whose physical characteristics and exploits resemble exaggerated males of outrageous and humorous strength and courage. In "Shemales, Sentiment, and Stereotypes," he explores the characters, the images, and the political and social symbolism of the tales. He observes that the extreme masculinity of the women portrayed in the almanacs was a playful device for ridiculing the ideal of 19th-century femininity. The tales themselves, organized and presented by topic, are great fun, but it is the intelligence of the format and the sophistication of the analysis that raise this collection above the merely amusing and make it a revealing study of the imagery of 19th-century women. Recommended for public and academic libraries. Bonnie Collier, Yale Law Lib., New Haven
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Conceived as a marketing device by nineteenth-century publishers hoping to gain a share of the lucrative almanac market, The Crockett Almanacs became the best-selling and longest-running series of comic almanacs published in the United States before the Civil War. Michael Lofaro explores one of the Almanacs' most entertaining and intriguing aspects: the adventures of backwoods women. Their portrayals, which range from the heroic to the satiric, from the comic to the sentimental, create uproarious laughter and provoke serious commentary-often in the same tale.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Stackpole Books (April 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811704998
• ISBN-13: 978-0811704991
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,508,120 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)