Demons of disorder

by Dale Cockrell

Carnival, charivari, mumming plays, peasant festivals, and even early versions of the Santa Claus myth - all of these forms of entertainment influenced and shaped blackface minstrelsy in the first half of the nineteenth century. In his fascinating study Demons of Disorder, musicologist Dale Cockrell studies issues of race and class by analyzing their cultural expressions, and investigates the roots of still-remembered songs such as "Jim Crow," "Zip Coon," and "Dan Tucker." Flaming his way across nearly all the worlds uncovered here is George Washington Dixon, the man most deserving of the title "father of blackface minstrelsy" and surely one of celebrity's all-time heavyweight eccentrics - a bonafide "demon of disorder." The first book on the blackface tradition written by a leading musicologist, Demons of Disorder is an important achievement in music history and culture.