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Proverbs Are the Best Policy: Folk Wisdom and American Politics. By Wolfgang Mieder. (Logan: Utah State University Press, 2005. Pp. xvi + 323, acknowledgments, introduction, notes, bibliography, indices. $24.95 paper)
Widely regarded as the world's foremost proverb scholar, Wolfgang Mieder has over the last decade devoted much of his considerable energy to the study of proverbs in political discourse. Of the books he has published on this topic (1997, 2000, 2002), the present volume is perhaps the most compelling. Although five of its eight chapters have been separately published, the essays fit nicely together and the book reads as a well-organized whole. Beyond the author's general goal of exploring proverbs in American politics, the book represents several important specific but unstated achievements. It conveys better than most folklore textbooks how central folklore has been to the developing American culture, and, without ever directly addressing the issue, its essays clearly demonstrate why folklore should be of interest to scholars in other disciplines - political science, literature, and especially history. One of the most impressive aspects of Proverbs Are the Best Policy is its minutely detailed focus on American history, which includes not just facts but fresh insights into political figures, key political issues, and defining historical...