Faith, Family, and Flag: Branson Entertainment and the Idea of America (order here)
Faith, Family, and Flag: Branson Entertainment and the Idea of America tells the history of the Branson, Missouri entertainment industry set in the context of America’s culture wars. Over the past one hundred years, the Ozark Mountain town has become a mecca of live performance that offers its visitors the opportunity to see variety shows, country music shows, Elvis tribute shows, Bible-based musicals, and other offerings. But as the book details, Branson offers more than lighthearted entertainment. It sells audiences a vision of the American Dream rooted in three principles: Faith, Family, and Flag. While town boosters proclaim that these principles are universal and neutral, the “Three F’s” have also become associated with political conservatism, thereby placing the tourist destination into the crosshairs of the nation’s culture wars. Branson thus inspires polarizing views: some consider it “God’s Country,” and others, “as close to Hell as anything on Earth.” Rather than adopt either of these positions, author Joanna Dee Das approaches the city with a serious consideration of the role that its entertainment industry has played in America’s cultural and political landscape. The book includes a thirty-page Appendix of all Branson shows in residence from 1959 to 2024.
Winner of the 2026 Book Award from the International Society for the Study of Musicals
Praise for Faith, Family, and Flag:
“A superb history of American popular entertainment….Das has meticulously researched and documented in clear, accessible prose the homegrown shows and local family talents that propelled the Branson entertainment phenomenon, beginning with the outdoor dramatic pageant created from [Harold Bell] Wright’s book in the mid-1950s through the avalanche of stars, including Tony Orlando, Dolly Parton, and Andy Williams, who arrived in the 1990s to headline Las Vegas-style extravaganzas, espousing feel-good, American family values.”
-M. S. LoMonaco, Choice
“Das peels back the layers of the Branson entertainment scene to reveal a complexity that most of us, regardless of political persuasion, would not expect to encounter. Timely and personal, yet scholarly and balanced, Faith, Family, and Flag is essential reading for understanding the Branson phenomenon adn the nation’s love-hate relationship with it”
-Brooks Blevins, author of A History of the Ozarks
“To Das’s great credit, her approach is neither to valorize [Branson] entertainment nor to dismiss it all as lowbrow and exploitative, but rather, drawing on extensive archival research, oral interviews, and attendance at performances, to consider carefully what drew and draws so many to both perform in and visit the region….rooted in her commitment to ‘lead with curiosity’ (p. 200), her book rightly understands Branson as a place where ‘the battle to define America’ plays out each night on stage (p. 8), and that is a testament to how much can be gained by taking popular culture seriously.”
-Anthony Harkins, author of Hillbilly: A Cultural History of an American Icon
Katherine Dunham: Dance and the African Diaspora (order here)
-Winner of 2018 de la Torre Bueno First Book Prize from Dance Studies Association
-Winner of 2019 Honorable Mention Errol Hill Award for outstanding scholarship on African American theater and performance from the American Society for Theatre Research
Praise for Katherine Dunham: Dance and the African Diaspora
"Joanna Dee Das brilliantly congeals historiography and dance studies, giving us a proving inquiry of new diaspora perspectives on Katherine Dunham as one of the most complex world dance figures of the 20th century. Das' meticulous archival research reveals longed-for details about Dunham's awareness of her Africanist aesthetic in dance and her constant fight against racism - what Das astutely calls her politics of diaspora." -- Halifu Osumare, Professor Emerita, University of California, Davis and former co-director, Institute for Dunham Technique Certification
"The first scholar to fully plumb the archive, Joanna Dee Das offers an incisive portrait of Dunham as artist and activist whose multifaceted career profoundly shaped understandings of the African diaspora in her time - and in ours." -- Susan Manning, Professor of English, Theatre, and Performance Studies, Northwestern University.
“Joanna Dee Das’ Katherine Dunham: Dance and the African Diaspora reconfigures Dunham’s acknowledged legacy to include her intellectual, aesthetic and activist contributions within the sweep of African diaspora history….Importantly, the intersection of biography, performance, and historiography surfaces Dunham’s deep and persistent commitment to the struggle for racial equality and social justice grounded in what Das calls a “politics of diaspora”….The many contradictions in Dunham’s work and life are insightfully juxtaposed, shedding light on the complex forces affecting Dunham’s artistic and personal choices. The integration of vivid oral histories, embodied research, and beautiful writing make this book a page-turner, a highly readable account that places dance at the centre of Dunham’s interdisciplinary reach and significance.”— de la Torre Bueno Award Committee