Formality in a friendly letter subjects the other person to all the rigors of a snow storm. With those words, Joel Chandler Harris kindly admonished his six children on how to write to him while they were off at school, on prolonged visits, or working away from home. In turn, Harris kept his offspring informed about his works in progress, current events, household activities, and the latest gossip. He sternly advised his four boys--especially the oldest, Julian--on how they should conduct their lives and careers. He regaled his two daughters--his "dearest chums and partners"--with skits...

Joel Chandler Harris was internationally famous in his own time and has a surprisingly broad scholarly and popular following in ours. His portraits of slaves and former slaves, particularly Uncle Remus and Free Joe, poor whites, and Brer Rabbit, the archetypal trickster hero, have influenced many other writers, including Mark Twain, Charles Chesnutt, William Faulkner, Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison, and a wide array of children's authors from Beatrix Potter to A. A. Milne. Harris also left a lasting mark on popular culture, most clearly manifested through Disney's DEGREESISong of the South...