A look at our nation's past and development through tales, humor and contemporary hero tales.

A survey of the entire field of America folklore-folkways jests, boasts, tall tales, ballads, and legendary heroes-from the era of colonization to the present age of mass culture.

Describes the characteristics of folk cultures and discusses the procedures used by social scientists to study folklife.

A scholarly collection of Mexican tales that still thrive in oral literature and in fiestas, which combine legend, dance, ritual, carnival, and drama. The great and central fact of Mexican folklore is the Spanish-Indian synthesis. The concentrated period of Spanish conquest (1519-21) led immediately into racial and cultural confluence, heralded by the Aztec identification of Cortes with the white god Quetzalcoatl and aided by Franciscan and Jesuit...