Texas Tech University

The Creolization of American Culture

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Book Description: 

The Creolization of American Culture: William Sidney Mount and the Roots of Blackface Minstrelsy (Illinois, 2013) by Christopher Smith uncovers the breadth and richness of cultural exchange between antebellum working-class Americans which yielded the "creole" music, dance, and physical comedy that combined as the nation's first popular music craze. Winner of the 2013 Irving F Lowens Prize (Society for American Music) and the TTU Faculty Book Prize.

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Author Bio: 

Chris Smith is Professor, Chair of Musicology, and director of the Vernacular Music Center at the Texas Tech University School of Music. He is a former nightclub bouncer, framing carpenter, lobster fisherman, and oil-rig roughneck, and a published poet.