{"product_id":"9781496864017","title":"The Only True Folksongs in English","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Only True Folksongs in English: American Ballad Scholarship, 1855-1915 uncovers how nineteenth-century American scholars including the children of farmers, sail makers, and ministers set out to prove that a young republic could, in fact, have its own folk tradition. \t  \t  \tAccording to nationalist thought of the time, a true nation required a \"folk\"-an ancient, undivided people with a distinct spirit expressed in timeless ballads. The United States, as the first modern state, lacked this past and therefore, supposedly, lacked any authentic folk culture. Yet between 1855 and 1915, a group of scholars-James Russell Lowell, Francis James Child, William Wells Newell, Francis Barton Gummere, George Lyman Kittredge, and John Avery Lomax-along with poet Katharine Lee Bates, rose to the challenge. \t  \t  \tThrough their writings, these intellectuals defined what counted as \"traditional popular poetry,\" discovered home-grown American ballads, and established ballad study as central to emerging disciplines like literary studies, anthropology, and folklore. Their work paved the way for the collection of hundreds of American-made folksongs and helped forge a national identity rooted not in race or ancestry but in the songs of ordinary people.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"UNIVERSITY PRESS OF MISSISSIPPI","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47673658572852,"sku":"9781496864017","price":246.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/9390\/2132\/files\/9781496864017.jpg?v=1776464140","url":"https:\/\/woodslane.com.au\/products\/9781496864017","provider":"Woodslane","version":"1.0","type":"link"}