Carnival In The Countryside

Author : Chris Rasmussen
Publisher : University of Iowa Press
ISBN 13 : 1609383575
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.72/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Carnival in the Countryside written by Chris Rasmussen and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2015-08-15 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than a century and a half after its founding, the Iowa State Fair is the state's central institution, event, and symbol. During its annual run each August, the fair attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors who make the pilgrimage to the fairground to see the iconic butter cow, to ride the Old Mill, to walk through the livestock barns, and to people-watch. At the same time that they enjoy fried candy bars and roller coasters, Iowans also compete to raise the best corn and zucchinis, to make the best jams and jellies, to rear the finest sheep and goats, the largest cattle and hogs, and the handsomest horses. This tension between entertainment and agriculture goes back all the way to the fair's founding in the mid-1800s, as historian Chris Rasmussen shows in this thought-provoking history. The fair's founders had lofty aims: they sought to improve agriculture and foster a distinctively democratic American civilization. But from the start these noble intentions jostled up against people's desire to have fun and make money, honestly or otherwise--not least because the fair had to pay for itself. In short, the Iowa State Fair has as much to tell us about human nature and American history as it does about growing corn.

Author : Chris Rasmussen
Publisher : University of Iowa Press
ISBN 13 : 1609383583
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.89/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Carnival in the Countryside written by Chris Rasmussen and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2015-08-15 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than a century and a half after its founding, the Iowa State Fair is the state’s central institution, event, and symbol. New Jersey has the Shore; Kentucky has the Derby; Iowa has the Fair. The humble Iowa State Fairground ranks alongside the Great Pyramids at Giza and the Taj Mahal in the best-selling travel guide 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. During its annual run each August, the fair attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors who make the pilgrimage to the fairground to see the iconic butter cow, to ride the Old Mill, to walk through the livestock barns, and to people-watch. At the same time that they enjoy fried candy bars and roller coasters, Iowans also compete to raise the best corn and zucchinis, to make the best jams and jellies, to rear the finest sheep and goats, the largest cattle and hogs, and the handsomest horses. This tension between entertainment and agriculture goes back all the way to the fair’s founding in the mid-1800s, as historian Chris Rasmussen shows in this thought-provoking history. The fair’s founders had lofty aims: they sought to improve agriculture and foster a distinctively democratic American civilization. But from the start these noble intentions jostled up against people’s desire to have fun and make money, honestly or otherwise—not least because the fair had to pay for itself. In their effort to uplift rural life without going broke, the organizers of the Iowa State Fair debated the respectability of horse racing and gambling and struggled to find qualified livestock judges. Worried about the economic forces undermining rural families, they ran competitions to select the best babies and the “ideal” rural girl and boy while luring spectators with massive panoramas of earthquakes and fires, not to mention staged trainwrecks. In short, the Iowa State Fair has as much to tell us about human nature and American history as it does about growing corn.

Author : Thomas Leslie
Publisher : Princeton Architectural Press
ISBN 13 : 9781568985688
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.81/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Iowa State Fair written by Thomas Leslie and published by Princeton Architectural Press. This book was released on 2007-07-12 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than 150 years old and still going strong, the Iowa State Fair is an American institution that wasrecently selected by bestselling author Patricia Schultz as one of the 1000 Places to See Before You Die. Once an opportunity for country folk to come to town, experience the community of fellow farmers, and show off the fruits of their labor, today the fair attracts more than one million attendees from urban, suburban, and rural locales. They are all longing for an authentic American experience, a celebration of the abundance of our land, and the talents of our people. Iowa State Fair isthe first comprehensive history of this extraordinary confluence of cows and corn dogs, midwestern culture, and classic Americana. Iowa State Fair samples every flavor at the fair, from the fairy tale State Fair of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical to the surreal site of staged locomotive collisions to Norma Duffield Lyons 2000 pound butter sculpture of The Last Supper. Beauty-queen contestants, fans of Kid Rock and Kenny Chesney, 30,000 annual blue ribbon winners, and deep fried Twinkie eaters fill itspages with visual delight. Author Thomas Leslie brings the fair to life, recounting its fascinating background and noting why today it is more popular than ever. Like the fair itself, this book celebrates the state's agricultural heritage and provides a heartwarming portrait of an event that is, quite literally, as American as apple pie. Iowa State Fair will please the fairgoer in all of us. Last year's 1,013,063 attendees can't be wrong.

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781908714572
Total Pages : 128 pages
Book Rating : 4.73/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Festival Folk written by and published by . This book was released on 2019-04-30 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 40 unusual world festivals and their accompanying costumes are brought to life in stunning illustrations and engaging texts.

Author : Jerome R. Mintz
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000180816
Total Pages : 226 pages
Book Rating : 4.17/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Carnival Song and Society written by Jerome R. Mintz and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-05-26 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Carnival songs resemble a tabloid newspaper in their verve, spirit and range of themes. They are a measure of social change and an annual summary of events and opinion. The songs involve considerable artistry and are renowned as well for their raucous humor and vulgar concerns. (Promiscuity and sexual misalliances are common subjects.) Banned by Franco during the Spanish Civil War, the Cádiz carnival began a revival in the 1960's following decades of repression. This fascinating book examines carnival song and society during the last years of the Franco dictatorship and the succeeding period of the new constitutional monarchy, when the Andalusians found their voice and Carnival enjoyed an extraordinary florescence. Songs from rural and urban carnivals in several locales throughout the province of Cádiz provide a compelling picture of Andalusian life in both troubled and more flourishing times.

Author : Barry Jean Ancelet
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781946160911
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.11/5 ( download)

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Download or read book From Behind the Mask: Essays on South Louisiana Mardi Gras Runs written by Barry Jean Ancelet and published by . This book was released on 2023-01-24 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Behind the Mask brings together essays written over a period of more than forty years, based on Barry Jean Ancelet's observations and experiences. Ancelet explores critical elements of the traditional Mardi Gras runs of Cajun and Creole South Louisiana, including strategies for masking, costuming, begging, singing, playing, and moving through the countryside. He addresses historical issues, including the tradition's roots in European and Afro-Caribbean festivals, as well as its contemporary dynamics and ongoing evolution, including local social, cultural and political issues involving class, identity, gender and race. Mardi Gras runs can seem at first glance to be wide-open public celebrations, but they are actually intimate expressions of community solidarity. Carnivalesque play is most effective when the players and their hosts would know each other except for the masks and costumes of the moment. Singing, dancing, intense begging, and verbal play create the improvised theater provided in exchange for contributions to the communal gathering and meal at the end of the day. Mardi Gras is an elaborate game designed to entertain and generate laughter, and because every game has its rules and masters, Mardi Gras capitaines and their deputies ride herd on the revelers to keep play from devolving into chaos. The processional nature of this ritual enables it to move through what the participants think of as their little worlds, turning everything around them into temporary props and stages and drawing observers into their improvised farces, driven by a sense of deep play that tickles power with inversions of social structures and intense interaction from behind the masks.

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 1374 pages
Book Rating : 4.75/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Country Gentleman written by and published by . This book was released on 1924 with total page 1374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Eric Hill
Publisher : Putnam Juvenile
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 32 pages
Book Rating : 4.21/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Spot and His Grandparents Go to the Carnival written by Eric Hill and published by Putnam Juvenile. This book was released on 1998 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spot and his grandparents get ready to ride a fire engine in the carnival parade. Spot's friends ride along.

Author : Robert Browning
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 686 pages
Book Rating : 4.82/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Fifine at the fair. Red cotton night-cap country, and the Inn album written by Robert Browning and published by . This book was released on 1886 with total page 686 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 868 pages
Book Rating : 4.20/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Country Gentleman written by and published by . This book was released on 1922 with total page 868 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: