Southwest literary humor and Yiddish humor collided in the ever-popular
comic strip "Li'l Abner," From 1936 to 1977, when it ceased publication,
this comic strip entertained, annoyed, riled, and amused legions of
readers. Li'l Abner, Daisy Mae, Mammy and Pappy Yokum, Moonbeam McSwine,
Marryin' Sam, and Sadie Hawkins became pillars in American popular
culture, and Dogpatch became a symbol, an emblem, and a community in
mainstream U.S.A.
The denizens of Dogpatch were destined for their place outside the
frames of comic strips. They were popular subjects on stage and screen
and eventually made their way into scholarly studies.
Li'l Abner: A Study in American Satire, the first such assessment, is
made available again in this edition which includes a new afterword by
the author. Originally published in 1969, it was the first full-length
book devoted to a single American comic strip. It has remained a model
of how the comics, sometimes snubbed as "culture for the common man,"
can