Reviews
"Provides generous helpings of Southern humor to explain how these upper-class male identities were preserved in an era of slavery, shifting codes of conduct and unbridled capitalism."
--Book News
"Succeeds at blending history, cultural studies, and literary criticism."
"The writerly moves Mayfield makes deserve special mention. He not only adeptly recovers these humorists' role in southern culture but also evokes the tenor of their works. His writing, like theirs, is witty, ironic, and provocative. Counterfeit Gentlemen offers an example of experimentation in prose style that more scholars ought to consider."
--Journal of American History
"This exploration into the complexities of manhood in the Old South suggests new and intriguing avenues for future scholars."
--Florida Historical Quarterly
"A rich, provocative examination of the ideals and dilemmas of masucilinity in the amtebellum South. Engagingly written, Counterfeit Gentlemen is an important book and a valuable contribution to our understanding of the antebellum South."
--The Journal of Southern History Vol. LXXVI, No. 4
"A rich new source in the underexplored field of Southern manhood. Mayfield's narrative style is a combination of insight, information, and wit and is as fun to read as it is rewarding."
--Studies in American Humor
New Series 3, No. 22
A detailed account of how southern nonplanter men attempted to gain access to hnor and become southern gentlemen through humor literature. Also provides an insight into southern class conflict. Mayfield expertly balances a number of themes: honor, manhood, humor, and identity.
--Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
"Mayfield's analysis provides invaluable insight into how southern men, in particular, thought about and understood the frontier's challenges."
--The Alabama Review
"Mayfield's study provokes plenty of thought on the construction of southern manhood and the use of humor to destabalize that construction. He combines his deft use of biography with a keen eye for interpreting the primary texts. His points are direct and and his style very amiable, but the content evokes thought and acknowledges the complexity of the topic. Counterfeit Gentlemen provides provocative analysis and furthers the conversation of a topic that has received some critisal treatment, but Mayfield gives the topic that extra attention it deserves."
--H-Net Reviews: H-Southern-Lit