Pattern in the Material Folk Culture of the Eastern United States

Glassie's book continues to be the single best overall discussion of design in American vernacular architecture and traditional crafts, even after more than thirty years.

This book provides descriptive information on houses, folk art, objects of mirth and merriment, and other forms of material culture from America's Eastern states. The book provides excellent resources for demonstrating how material folk cultural expressions can be studied for clues to regional identity. Glassie then demonstrates that understanding how folk culture is distributed over geographic regions provides clues for studying American history. It is an early study that links folklore to cultural geography and social history, and it provides a great starting point for understanding the scholarship in these areas within subsequent years.

I have developed into a strong Henry Glassie fan, having read nearly everything he has ever written. This one book, however, is the catalyst that started my love affair with Material Culture. While I can't reasonably say it changed my life, it did open my eyes to many things in life that would have gone unnoticed by me and I do feel my life is richer for it.