Reviews for Disarming the Nation: Women's Writing and the American Civil War

The average rating for Disarming the Nation: Women's Writing and the American Civil War based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-02-24 00:00:00 Michael Green I would like to call Catfish at the Pump a fine collection of tall tales. Yes, I would like to, but the author eschews the term, and I will not show him such disrespect. Rather, I'll use his nomenclature and call it a pack of lies, and the author himself a champion liar. He takes this role willingly, writing in a style similar to the (mostly) nineteenth-century (mostly) Nebraskan sources that the book draws from. At times, it is difficult to tell where Welsch leaves off and the source material begins. My postmodern friends might say that the author, a vaunted Nebraska professor with substantial academic and popular followings, is recognizing that he is part of the discourse right along with the WPA Writers Project archives, newspaper clippings, published secondary sources, and occasional interviews that this study draws from. As such, the analysis he offers of how these folktales (my term, not his) give insight into Great Plains history and culture might be easily overlooked; Welsch communicates this insight by allusion and a tale-telling organizational style, as opposed to the detached analysis and categorization one might expect from someone like Richard Dorson. At times, the humor manages to transcend the decades, such as when a fisherman inadvertently trains a whiskey-loving snake to retrieve frogs to use as bait. More often, the tales are slower going, and may take multiple readings to understand. Throughout, though, Welsch is an able interlocutor, providing a nuanced representation of the pioneers' character and self-image through their sometimes-prideful, sometimes-desperate humor.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-11-12 00:00:00 Todd Megna Brugt som brugbar kilde ifb. med mit speciale om Young Adult-litteratur (2017)