The fourteen personal stories in this delightful coming of age book apply universal elements with characters and situations that everyone will recognize so that only the names, places and times change from our own childhood stories.
The author presents eight short stories about his mother and other family members as they grew up in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina.
Jim May writes the stories of his youth, growing up in the rural Midwest between the Truman and the JFK eras, where trading stories was as common as trading horses, and frequently required the same skills. Neighboring, as his mother called it, was part of the social fabric. These 18 poignant and humorous stories of life's joys and trials told with the freshness of youth, yet tempered with the wisdom of age evoke a simpler time in our nation's history without romanticizing the inherent hardships.
A hilarious collection of short folktales from all over the world featuring silly characters, nonsensical situations, and general tomfoolery.
High John the Conqueror sometimes called simply High John or John was a slave trickster who always outwits Old Master. Much like Greek slave Aesop's animal characters, High John was the subject of a series of subversive narratives, whose mission was to outsmart his oppressors. Tall tales of High John's exploits flourished during slavery, but after emancipation they fell out of circulation and his antics were all but forgotten.
Congress passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830 with the intent of moving five large tribes to Indian Territory. The tribes could either move to the reservations or assimilate. As settlers kept moving west, more and more tribes were encountered, and all ultimately found themselves going to reservations. This new way of life was a vast change for the Indians.
The American Indian culture consisted of specific customs and traditions that regulated everything from who would lead the tribes to who would marry within the tribes. They kept precise, detailed accounts of their tribal histories because they foresaw the importance of passing down their histories.
