Formulating Foster - Stephen C. Foster and the Creation of a National Musical Myth

Formulating Foster humanizes the composer Stephen C. Foster (1826--64), long regarded as a founding father in American cultural history, pulling him down from the pedestal on which he has been placed to thoughtfully examine what we actually know about him versus what has been said. To that end, Christopher Lynch investigates the origins of myths portraying him as the father of American music and a symbol of American democracy, exposing them to have been deliberately designed to conceal troubling aspects of his life and music.