Scipio Storytelling

An exceptionally straightforward, lucid introduction to conversational analysis with interesting insights into performance dynamics

American Anthropologist

MacDonald demonstrates that these are live and effective events which help to form and uphold the communal values and norms of these rural folk.

Folklore, Annual 1999

I am delighted to see the expertise of a folklorist combined with the skill of an active storyteller used fruitfully in the discussion of stories which are not presented as mere entertainments, and of people who are not presented as mere resources.

Barre Toelken, Utah State University

This work demonstrates the important fact that stories are not disembodied texts that spring full-blown from the human imagination, but rather that stories arise organically in the process of creating and maintaining community.

John McDowell, Folklore Institute, Indiana University

The author aptly calls this type of storytelling performance more a form of group play than a monologue. The book succeeds in detecting and presenting the underlying rules governing these storytelling sessions.

Western Folklore