American Folkways series

The American Folkways is a 28-volume series of books, initiated and principally edited by Erskine Caldwell, and published by Duell, Sloan and Pearce from 1941 to 1955.

[3] Many of the individual volumes have become regarded as classics in folklore, local history, and American writing, and a number of them have been issued in multiple editions or are still in print.

Caldwell initiated the series after returning to the United States from reporting on the German invasion of Russia.

[6] In 1939, he began traversing the country, soliciting authors for the series, and by the end of the year had elicited commitments from five writers.

"[9] Caldwell was a detailed and focused editor, urging writers to hew to his vision – documenting and commenting on particular cultural regions, not sanitizing their subject, but reflective of the author's distinctive voice and regionalist character.