Myths and Legends of Our Own Land by Charles M. Skinner

Description

Myths and Legends of Our Own Land is a book by Charles M. Skinner, first published in 1896. A sweeping two-volume anthology compiled at the close of the 19th century, it gathers regional folktales, supernatural stories, and local legends from across the United States — from the Hudson Valley and Manhattan to the Great Lakes, the Rocky Range, and the Pacific Coast. Skinner wrote with the antiquarian’s care and the storyteller’s appetite, reconstructing tales from newspapers, oral narratives, histories and early records so that a rapidly changing nation might keep hold of the tales that shaped its places and people. More than a mere curiosity, this collection played a part in preserving American vernacular lore at a moment when oral tradition risked being lost to expansion and modernization. Readers interested in American folklore, regional legends, folktales, mythical topography, and the cultural history of the United States will find here familiar names and stranger, localized wonders — the kind of material used by later folklorists, local historians, and creative writers seeking authentic regional colour.

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