{"product_id":"catfish-at-the-pump-roger-welsch-9780803297128","title":"Catfish at the Pump: Humor and the Frontier","description":"Were our forefathers liars? \"You bet they were,\" says Roger Welsch, \"and damned fine ones at that.\" The proof is in \u003ci\u003eCatfish at the Pump\u003c\/i\u003e, a collection of the kind of humor that softened the hardships of pioneering on the Great Plains. From yellowed newspapers, magazines, and forgotten Nebraska Federal Writers' Project files, the well-known folklorist and humorist Roger Welsch has produced a book to be treasured. Here are jokes, anecdotes, legends, tall tales, and lugubriously funny poems about the things that preoccupied the pioneer plainsman: weather extremes; soil quality; food and whiskey; an arkload of animals, including grasshoppers, bed bugs, hoop snakes, the ubiquitous mule, and some mighty big fish; and even sickness and the poverty that would inspire black laughter again in the Great Depression. \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eCatfish at the Pump\u003c\/i\u003e proves abundantly that the art of story telling was practiced diligently by our plains ancestors. Roger Welsch, who brought out \u003ci\u003eShingling the Fog and Other Plains Lies\u003c\/i\u003e in 1972 (reprinted by the University of Nebraska Press in 1980), now issues this \"book about lies and liars,\" knowing full well that \"underlying the pioneer sense of humor is a profound respect for truth.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Roger Welsch, Linda K. Welsch\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0803297122\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780803297128\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Nebraska Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/01\/1986\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 152\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.47lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.64h x 6.02w x 0.43d","brand":"Roger Welsch","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43926200910079,"sku":"9780803297128","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_44e249f6-1581-44a7-91fe-d2365ecb16d2.jpg?v=1681081756","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/catfish-at-the-pump-roger-welsch-9780803297128","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}