Arkansas/Arkansaw: How Bear Hunters, Hillbillies, and Good Ol' Boys Defined a State

ISBN-13: 9781557289056 / Angielski

Brooks Blevins

Opis

Who are you calling a hillbilly? What do Scott Joplin, John Grisham, General Douglas MacArthur, Maya Angelou, Brooks Robinson, Helen Gurley Brown, Johnny Cash, Alan Ladd, and Sonny Boy Williamson have in common? They're all Arkansans. What do hillbillies, rednecks, slow trains, bare feet, moonshine, and double-wides have in common? For many in America these represent Arkansas more than any Arkansas success stories do. In 1931 H. L. Mencken described AR (not AK, folks) as the 'apex of moronia'. While, in 1942 a Time magazine article said Arkansas had 'developed a mass inferiority complex unique in American history'. Arkansas/Arkansaw is the first book to explain how Arkansas' image began and how the popular culture stereotypes have been perpetuated and altered through succeeding generations. Brooks Blevins argues that the image has not always been a bad one. He discusses travel accounts, literature, radio programs, movies, and television shows that give a very positive image of the Natural State.