Spoon River America

Jason Stacy is a professor of history and social science pedagogy at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. He is the author of Walt Whitman's Multitudes: Labor Reform and Persona in Whitman's Journalism and the First Leaves of Grass, 1840–1855 and editor of Leaves of Grass, 1860: The 150th Anniversary Facsimile Edition.

"Jason Stacy's Spoon River America sets a new benchmark for what scholarship on Spoon River Anthology might look like and what it might do. Its approach to Spoon River is fantastically stimulating in showing how Master's most famous and popular work remains a site for telling new stories of US cultural production and myth-making." --American Literary History"Written in a clear, engaging style, Jason Stacy's Spoon River America is a deep and careful historical analysis of Masters's work, its origins, and its influence. It contributes to several areas of scholarship including Modernism and twentieth-century poetry, myths of the American small town, literary history and pedagogy, and issues of race." --Middle West"Highly recommend this extensively researched and engaging book, Spoon River America to American culture scholars and teachers and to all who love Spoon River Anthology." --Journal of American Culture

• CoverTitleCopyrightContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Origin Stories2. The Premodern Midwest3. Frontiers: Closed and Opened4. Rampant Yokelisms5. Reception6. The Village Revolt7. Main Street, U.S.A.ConclusionNotesBibliographyIndexBack cover