Indian Chief Interferes in Daughter's Love Life Causing Her to Leap Off a Cliff: Story in New Book by Leland and Crystal Payton
Lover's Leap Legends is the first book devoted to these tragic tales
SPRINGFIELD, Mo., Feb. 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- It's beyond sad! Beautiful Indian princess jumps to her death when controlling chieftain father disapproves boyfriend from an enemy tribe. Across America are cliffs where "many moons ago" such tragedies were said to have occurred. Folklorists have understandably dismissed them as fakelore, but Leland and Crystal Payton found the history of these spurious stories perversely fascinating.
The new 352-page, all-color book is filled with vintage postcards and souvenirs of Lover's Leaps from Maine to California and a few overseas. The authors photographed some of the most famous jumping-off spots, including Maiden Rock, Wisconsin, the first starring a Native American girl. Mark Twain ridiculed that one—Winona, the heartbroken Dakota maiden, landed on her oppressive parents killing them, freeing her to marry the brave of her choice.
"We understand why Twain satirized such legends. He was the archenemy of sentimentality," said Crystal. "These fables illustrated how saccharine Romanticism flavored pop culture in nineteenth century America." Leland adds, "Oversweetened literature and entertainment sadly haven't vanished." The book's dedication is to America's first pop culture critic: "For Mark Twain—who diagnosed America's sentimental Romantic infection. Alas, his injection of realism was not a cure."
"Lover's Leap Legends is the definitive visual sourcebook for an American tradition that is as disturbing as it is amusing." - Jared Farmer, author of On Zion's Mount: Mormons, Indians, and the American Landscape
"Reviewers Bookwatch" wrote: An inherently fascinating, beautifully illustrated, impressively informative, expertly organized and presented study, "Lover's Leap Legends: From Sappho of Lesbos to Wah-Wah-Tee of Waco" is an extraordinary, unique, and unreservedly recommended addition to personal reading lists, as well as community and academic library collections.
Available on amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and publisher's website, hypercommon.com
Leland and Crystal Payton have collaborated on more than a dozen books on popular culture and the Ozarks. They have two sons and live in Springfield, MO.
LOVER'S LEAP LEGENDS: From Sappho of Lesbos to Wah-Wah-Tee of Waco
Leland & Crystal Payton
ISBN: 978-0-9673925-9-2
352 pages 7.5x10 545 color illustrations
$35.00
LENS & PEN PRESS
email [email protected]
Tel 417 886 7124
Cell 417 894 4030
www.beautifulozarks.com
www.hypercommon.com/press-kit
SOURCE Leland and Crystal Payton
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