Soon after 9/11, wild rumors began to spread: that Arab-Americans were celebrating publicly, that some people had been warned, that politicians knew all along.
The Global Grapevine reveals how--through our everyday thoughts and conversations, and the rumors we spread--we grapple with the new global world. Drawn from diverse sources, the book illuminates urban legends like the claim that a certain t-shirt with a Chinese pictogram brands the wearer as a prostitute, conspiracy theories such as the "9/11 Truth Movement," or stories of tourists infected with AIDS by locals. These rumors, the authors argue, reflect our anxieties and fears about contact with foreign cultures--how we believe foreign competition to be poisoning the domestic economy and foreign immigration to be eroding American values. Focusing on the threat posed by terrorism, the impact of immigration, the risks involved in international trade, and the dangers faced by naive tourism, the book provides a broad survey of the most widely circulated rumors and examines what these tales reveal about contemporary society.

This, the 20th volume of the Centenary Edition, completes the documentation of Hawthorne's official career as United States Consul at Liverpool begun in Volume XIX. Drawing on previously unpublished resources in English and American government archives, these volumes reconstruct the variety of issues Hawthorne became involved in, ranging from the commercial effects of the Crimean War to the abuse of American seamen.

Far from mere idle tales, rumors are a valuable window into our anxieties and fears. In The Global Grapevine, two leading authorities on rumor, folklore, and urban legend-Gary Alan Fine and Bill Ellis-shed light on what contemporary rumors can tell us about the fears and pressures of globalization. In particular, they examine four major themes that emerge over and over again: rumors about terrorism, about immigration, about international trade, and about tourism. The authors analyze how various rumors underscore American reactions to perceived global threats, show how we interpret our changing world, and highlight fears, fantasies, and cherished beliefs about our place in the world. These rumors, the authors argue, are the visible tip of a vast iceberg of hidden anxieties. Illuminating the most widely circulated rumors in America in recent years, The Global Grapevine offers an invaluable portrait of what these tales reveal about contemporary society.

" Despite their centuries-old history and traditions, witchcraft and magic are still very much a part of modern Anglo-American culture. In Lucifer Ascending, Bill Ellis looks at modern practices that are universally defined as "occult," from commonplace habits such as carrying a rabbit's foot for good luck or using a Ouija board, to more esoteric traditions, such as the use of spell books. In particular, Ellis shows how the occult has been a common element in youth culture for hundreds of years. Using materials from little known publications and archives, Lucifer Ascending details the true social function of individuals' dabbling with the occult. In his survey of what Ellis terms "vernacular occultism," the author is poised on a middle ground between a skeptical point of view that defines belief in witchcraft and Satan as irrational and an interpretation of witchcraft as an underground religion opposing Christianity. Lucifer Ascending examines the occult not as an alternative to religion but rather as a means for ordinary people to participate directly in the mythic realm.

American military forces are scrambling to vacate France and find new bases in West Germany after Premier Charles De Gaulle's 1966 mandate. While the international community focuses on the conflagration in Vietnam, General Blake Rutter and his Soviet pal, Ivan Petrovski form a Society of high-ranking NATO officials to sell stolen weapons to enemies behind the Iron Curtain. Unless army intelligence can stop them, a handful of greedy officials may succeed in setting a match to the Cold War's fuse. Bill Conley, Military Intelligence Commanding General, recruits multi-talented Joe Wolf. A humble country boy from Virginia, Joe defies odds to identify the villainous Society members and uncover their plans. How he does that astounds his mentor, and especially thugs and bullies sent to destroy him. Joe is an expert marksman with hand-to-hand combat skills beyond his army instructors. But even his recruiter and mentor, General Bill Conley, is not aware of his special gifts of memory and intelligence that allow him to piece together the puzzle of the Society operation and outthink the bad guys. Villains run him off the road, physically assault him, kidnap his girlfriend, Sara Matthews, and attempt to kill Joe. But nothing deters him from completing his mission. He is incensed by the corruption at the very top of the army, and relentless in defeating the Society. Yet even heroes need a balance and Sara does that for Joe in a heated romance that keeps him centered on his goals and ambitions. Does he strive for a military career and a life of crime-fighting? Or, does getting shot and nearly killed in action change his goals, force him to accept a simpler lifestyle? But playing it safe is not in his make-up. If Joe has a weakness it's found in his idealism and the desire to stop all crime. He confesses to his mentor, Bill Conley, People aren't paying attention to what matters. There's a war in Southeast Asia and GIs are being killed. Students are revolting in the States, yet a four-star, commander in chief becomes a greedy common thief making extra money on the side off Uncle Sam's nickel. General Conley advises his young champion that not even Superman stops all the bad guys from their evildoings. The 350-year tradition of the burning of the Heidelberg castle serves as its ultimate diversion as the Society makes its final push for one last major arms transaction. Joe Wolf is challenged to stop the crooks and bring crushing defeat to Rutter and Petrovski.

Rubber Guns 'Bout a Little Boy in a Texas '20s Town This is the story of my adventures and escapades as a little Texas boy in the 1920's. The most vivid and some of the most pleasant recollections of my boyhood are about rubber guns - thus the title of this story. If you don't know what a rubber gun is, I feel sorry for you, but read on. The story of my boyhood is the story of all the games we played. Ten-Step (on rocky, school-yard dirt), Hully-Gully (with pecans), Crackers (pecans again), Tree-Tag (with our rings, trapeze, swings, and trees), Marbles (in circles in the dirt), Kick-The-Can (more circles in the dirt), Sow-Belly(still more dirt and circles), Pass-Tag (on more dirt), Thing-of-a-Jigs (home-made), and Rubber Guns. I don't know if we had more fun playing with toys we made ourselves, or if we just didn't have the money to buy "store" toys, but I can't remember any except the home-made variety. And our Rubber-Guns were the best. They shot rubber bands cut from tire inner-tubes. And they were 10 Shot Automatics. I've never seen any like them except on Vincent Street in Brownwood, Texas. It was organized warfare. In addition to the manuscript, this book has 25 photographs of me and my family, and a dimensioned sketch of a rubber gun. You can make one for yourself

In late May, a Pennsylvania high school hums with the rumor that a Satanic cult plans on killing the first four couples through the door on prom night. A horror writer in the Catskills is overcome with grief, alienated from his wife, unable to write, and suffering from recurring thoughts of physical and sexual indignities he has no words to describe. He concludes he has been abducted by aliens. In a Pizza Hut in Ohio, employees refuse to close alone because the ghost of a hanged man haunts the refrigerator. Tales such as these are the subject of Bill Ellis's Aliens, Ghosts, and Cults: Legends We Live. In the book, he explores the complex relationship between ordinary life and outlandish but oft-told legends. What he finds is startling. In multiple case studies legends become part of life. Officials take action in answer to each story's weird details, and people adjust their behavior to avoid or to experience aliens and ghosts. Written for both the cultural studies expert and the reader fascinated with reactions to extraordinary phenomena, Aliens, Ghosts, and Cults pursues motivations for why people tell these ""true stories, heard from a friend of a friend."" Ellis shows legends creating a sense of community in a multi-ethnic institutional camp. He traces some contemporary scares to such old tales as the vanishing hitchhiker and murderous gang initiations. In analyzing some newly emerging legend types, such as alien abductions and computer virus warnings, Ellis discovers connections between earlier types of religious experience and supposed witchcraft. Finally, the book reveals how legends can inspire people to actions, ranging from playful visits to haunted spots to horrifying threats of violence. Legends rely on active discussion to spread and mutate. This book considers them to be a social process, not a kind of narrative with a fixed form. People worldwide may tell a legend or one person to whom the event allegedly occurred may ""own"" the story. Individuals may relate an event as something strongly believed or as something laughable. Legends may be very new or have roots in old folklore. But when high schools, law enforcement agencies, city governments, and individuals take action, the story becomes one of the legends we live. Bill Ellis is an associate professor of English and American studies at Penn State University, Hazleton campus. His previous books include Raising the Devil: Satanism, New Religions, and the Media, and he has been published in Psychology Today, Skeptical Inquirer, Journal of American Folklore, and Journal of Popular Literature.

Raising the Devil reveals how the Christian Pentecostal movement, right-wing conspiracy theories, and an opportunistic media turned grassroots folk traditions into the Satanism scare of the 1980s. During the mid-twentieth century, devil worship was seen as merely an isolated practice of medieval times. But by the early 1980s, many influential experts in clinical medicine and in law enforcement were proclaiming that satanic cults were widespread and dangerous. By examining the broader context for alleged "cult" activity, Bill Ellis demonstrates how the image of contemporary Satanism emerged during the 1970s. Blaming a wide range of mental and physical illnesses on in-dwelling demons, a faction of the Pentecostal movement became convinced that their gifts of the spirit were being opposed by satanic activities. They attributed these activities to a "cult" that was the evil twin of true Christianity. In some of the cases Ellis considers, common folk beliefs and rituals were misunderstood as evidence of devil worship. In others, narratives and rituals themselves were used to combat satanic forces. As the media found such stories more and more attractive, any activity with even remotely occult overtones was demonized in order to fit a model of absolute good confronting evil. Ellis's wide-ranging investigation covers ouija boards, cattle mutilation, graveyard desecration, and "diabolical medicine"--the psychiatric community's version of exorcism. He offers a balanced view of contentious issues such as demonic possession, satanic ritual abuse, and the testimonies of confessing "ex-Satanists." A trained folklorist, Ellis seeks to navigate a middle road in this dialog, and his insights into informal religious traditions clarify how the image of Satanism both explained and created deviant behavior.

The "Jack" known to all of us from "Jack and the Beanstalk" is the hero of a cycle of tales brought to this country from the British Isles. "Jack in Two Worlds" is a unique collection that brings together eight of these stories as transcribed from actual performances by tellers and eight interpretive essays by leading folktale scholars.
The "two worlds" in the book's title refer to the Jack tales' popularity first among traditional Appalachian taletellers and now among storytelling revivalists. The tellers included in this volume represent both worlds. Unlike previous collections of Jack tales, in which the stories were heavily revised and rewritten, the tales in this volume have been transcribed verbatim and are presented in a format that preserves much of the oral quality of the taletellers' craft. The result is a body of richly nuanced tales that can be read with pleasure both by scholars who are studying the Jack tale tradition and by general readers who love a good story.
The taletellers are Stewart Cameron, Donald Davis, Ray Hicks, Bonelyn Lugg Kyofski, Maud Long, Frank Proffitt, Jr., Leonard Roberts, and Marshall Ward.
The essayists are Bill Ellis, Carl Lindahl, William Bernard McCarthy, W. F. H. Nicolaisen, Cheryl Oxford, Joseph Daniel Sobol, Kay Stone, Ruth Stotter, and Kenneth A. Thigpen.