In an entertaining and thorough sociohistorical biography, Walter M. Brasch examines the life of one of the most influential and popular American writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although Joel Chandler Harris (1846?-1908) was widely praised by his contemporaries, respected as the most popular writer behind Mark Twain, and his work has been translated into more than 30 languages, he is largely unknown today.

      Brasch looks at the nature of fame, and threads innumerable social and political issues throughout this important and enlightening study of a Southern writer, whom he characterizes as "a web of contradictions,"among them his belief in segregation while also speaking out as one of the nation's more liberal voices for racial equality and human rights. The book explores Harris's four-decade newspaper career, which remained a key part of his life and character even after he achieved critical and financial success in the literary field.

      This book is essential reading for anyone interested in social history and contemporary social issues, journalism, literature, popular culture, folklore, linguistics, or Harris himself.

      Harris's literary reproduction of American Black English "is not only remarkably accurate, but also reflective of the culture of middle Georgia during Reconstruction."Those who brand Harris and his writings as racist, says Brasch, "probably haven't read his works, and are unaware that Harris, in both countless newspaper editorials and in his fiction, was a strong voice for human rights."