Torching the Fink Books and Other Essays on Vernacular Culture

Archie Green--shipwright, folklorist, teacher, and lobbyist--was a legendary figure in the field of American folklore and vernacular culture studies. An inspiration to a generation of students and scholars, Green was known for the remarkable passion, intelligence, and curiosity he brought to his explorations of everyday people, their communities, their work, and their forms of expression.

This book gathers twelve essays intended to represent the range of Green's writings over forty years. Selections include a study of folk depictions in the art of Thomas Hart Benton, investigations of occupational and labor language, and a contemplative account of personal and political morality in the study of Appalachian musicians. In an afterword, Green traces his career and reflects on the state of folklore as a discipline.

Woven through the foreword by Robert Cantwell is Green's biography, key to understanding his unique mix of activism and scholarship.

Author: Archie Green
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Published: 04/30/2001
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.83lbs
Size: 9.26h x 5.80w x 0.65d
ISBN: 9780807849200

About the Author
Archie Green (1917-2009) was a sixty-year member of the Shipwrights Union, a retired professor of folklore and English at the University of Texas at Austin, and the author of numerous books on labor lore, language, music, and art. He was also a driving force behind passage of the American Folklife Preservation Act of 1976.