To Carolyn Brown's mind, the tall tale is not necessarily an account of the adventures of a larger-than-life hero, nor is it just a humorous first-person narrative exaggerated to outlandish proportions. The tall tale is also a social statement that identifies and binds a folk group by flaunting the peculiar knowledge and experiences of group members, and it is a tool for coping with a stressful or even chaotic world, for conquering life's problems by laughing at them. Drawing on previous research and her own original fieldwork, the author develops in detail this definition of the tall tale as a genre of folklore, then explores how tall tale methods and meaning have been translated into literary humor. The work moves from the Crockett Almanacs, sketches, newspaper hoaxes, and frontier frame tales to present new readings of such standard works as George Washington Harris’ Sut Lovingood and Mark Twain’s Autobiography. Brown probes the ways that writers have used this genre to create a complex theoretical relationship among text, author, narrator, and reader. Finally, the author alludes to the echoes of all tale attitudes and style still found in modern written humor.

Brown views the tall tale as both challenge and entertainment, as well as a story that identifies and binds a folk group and helps people to cope with a stressful world.