Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part One. Beginnings to 1865: The Emergence of a Region
Introduction: Beginnings to 1865
One. Hlu-ah-wah-tah“
Finding of the Four Colors,” translated by Francis La Flesche
Two. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1821)
from Journal of a Tour into the Interior of Missouri and Arkansas, 1818–1819
Three. Alphonso Wetmore (1837)
“The Dead Husband”
Four. Charles Fenton Mercer Noland (1839)
“Pete Whetstone’s Last Frolic”
Five. Friedrich Gerstäcker (circa 1840)
“In the Backwoods”
Six. George William Featherstonhaugh (1844)
from Excursion through the Slave States
Part Two. 1865–1918: The Social Construction of a Regional Culture
Introduction: 1865–1918
One. John Rollins Ridge (1868)
“The Arkansas Root Doctor”
Two. Albert Pike (1872)
“Sunset in Arkansas”
Three. John Monteith (1884)
from Parson Brooks: A Plum Powerful Hard Shell
Four. Minna Caroline Smith (1887)
“A Camp in the Mountains of Arkansas”
Five. Rose Emmet Young (1903)
from Sally of Missouri
Six. Benjamin F. Adams (1906)
“What the Negro Must Do”
Seven. Harold Bell Wright (1907)
from The Shepherd of the Hills
Part Three. 1918–1945: The Promotion of a Regional Image
Introduction: 1918–1945
One. A. M. Haswell (1920)
from A Daughter of the Ozarks
Two. Murray Sheehan (1927)
from Half-Gods
Three. George Pool Ballard (1928)
“Invitation”
“A Broken Promise”
Four. Ralph Alan McCanse (1931)
from The Road to Hollister: A Hill Country Pastoral
Five. Thames Williamson (1933)
from The Woods Colt
Six. Vance Randolph (1933)
“The Chore Boy”
Seven. Mary Elizabeth Mahnkey (1934)
“The Hired Man’s Fiddle”
“What Is Grandpa Carrying?”
Eight. MacKinlay Kantor (1935)
from The Voice of Bugle Ann
Nine. Weldon Stone (1937)
from Devil Take a Whittler
Ten. Rosa Zagnoni Marinoni (1938)
“Drought”
“Shanty in the Ozarks”
Eleven. Dennis Murphy (1941)
“Sonnet 2”
Twelve. John Gould Fletcher (1941)
“Thunderstorm in the Ozarks”
“Hillbilly Philosophy”
Thirteen. Irene Carlisle (1945)
“Sonnets to Strength”
Part Four. 1945–Current: The Deconstruction of a Regional Image
Introduction: 1945–Current
One. Constance Wagner (1950)
from Sycamore
Two. Robert A. Heinlein (1953)
from Starman Jones
Three. Wilson Rawls (1961)
from Where the Red Fern Grows
Four. Edsel Ford (1961, 1968)
“Country Store”
Five. Charles Morrow Wilson (1969)
“More Light”
Six. Frank Stanford (1974)
“Linger”
“Place on a Grave”
Seven. Miller Williams (1983)
“The Story”
Eight. Donald Harington (1988)
“Finding the Place, Naming the Place”
Nine. Katie Estill (2007)
from Dahlia’s Gone
Ten. Michael Mahoney (2008)
from Breathe Deep, Brother
Eleven. Steve Wiegenstein (2012)
from Slant of Light
Twelve. Steve Yates (2013)
“Starfall”
Thirteen. Daniel Woodrell (2013)
from The Maid’s Version
Fourteen. Christopher Crabtree
“Romance”
Fifteen. C. D. Albin (2016)
“Hard Toward Home”
“Cicero Jack Considers the Cougar’s Return”
Notes