Real Book of American Tall Tales

Real Book of American Tall Tales

by Michael Gorham, Herbert Danska (Illustrated)
Publisher: Garden City Books
©1952, Item: 70169
Hardcover, 192 pages
Not in stock

The books in this section are usually hardcover and in decent condition, though we'll sometimes offer hard-to-find books in lesser condition at a reduced price. Though we often put images of the book with their original dust jackets, the copies here won't always (or even often) have them. If that is important to you, please call ahead or say so in the order comments! 

Telling tall tales is an act that everybody wants to get into—and nearly everybody does in America. In fact, Americans like tall tales so much that telling them has become a national pastime. Several sections of the country even have contests to see who can tell the tallest ones, and everybody has a whale of a good time.

The stories in this book are terrific whoppers—some of them old, some of them not so old, and some that the author of this book made up himself, just as you'll be able to do.

Take, for instance, the story of Joe Magarac, the steelworkers' hero, who stirred molten steel with his bare hands; of John Henry who outdrilled the drilling machine; or Paul Bunyan who grew as tall as a tree; or Davy Crockett who rode an alligator to a political meeting; or Pecos Bill who rode and broke a cyclone like a cowboy does a mustang—all of these characters, and more, are in this book.

Here are the very best American whoppers, tall tales that really stretch the truth and the imagination. They're good to read and better to tell.

—from the book

Did you find this review helpful?