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This is the last collection of folktales by Ozarks historian and storyteller Vance Randolph. These folktales--nearly forty in all--represent some of the best stories assembled by Randolph over five decades of wandering the hills and hollers of the Missouri/Arkansas Ozark Mountains--a celebration of the life and humor enjoyed by folks in rural America and assembled during Randolph's final years spent in a nursing home. Now published nearly forty-four years after Randolph's death, the book includes the biographies of the men and women who originally passed each story along to Randolph, which makes for interesting reading in itself, plus additional commentary from Augustus Finch.
About the author
Vance Randolph (1892-1980) was an American writer and folklorist who concentrated his work in the Ozarks, with nearly twenty books produced about stories heard throughout his travels through the rural countryside. Curtis Copeland is lifelong resident of the Ozarks. He graduated from Missouri State University in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in Cartographic Sciences, and has been the Geographic Information Systems Manager for the City of Branson for the past twenty-five years. Curtis has been an Ozarks history enthusiast all of his life, and is currently a member of several Ozarks regional historical societies. In 2017, Curtis assisted in the reviving of The Society of Ozarkian Hillcrofters, an organization originally formed in 1932 for the purpose of preserving Ozarks history, folklore, culture, and conservation of its natural environment. Over the years, Curtis has written articles for Ozarks Watch magazine, the White River Valley Historical Journal, and has co-authored a book on the Ozarks Hillbilly. Curtis and his wife Crystal have two boys--Coulter, 6 and Sebastian, 14--and a daughter, Olivia, 20. They enjoy the Ozarks outdoors as a family at every possible opportunity. Michael Galloway, aka "Augustus Finch," is a native Ozarker, born, reared, and educated in Arkansas. In 1973, he began his career as a public-school teacher. Michael and his wife, Elena, moved to Carroll County in 1991 where he continued teaching, and Elena raised organic produce. Upon their retirement in 2019, the couple made Fayetteville, Arkansas, their home base but spend most of their time chasing rainbows in their RV.
