240Rocky Mountain Review incorporate deconstruction in the literature class, our methods of teaching analytic reading of poetry need not change, but our attitude must change radically. Instead of seeking an authoritative resolution to the stresses within a text, we should instead attempt to leave open the possibilities, to defer any final or closed meaning. Finally, the essay by David Kaufer and Gary Waller is a fine example of integrating theory and praxis. The authors first deconstruct the asymmetries between reading and writing, then give examples of how a deconstructive approach can be used to help students question assumptions and give them strategies for analyzing and transcending their previous knowledge, both in literature and in composition classes. This essay, written by a professor of literature and a professor of rhetoric, is the only one to raise the question of how to formulate curriculum. The authors are both from Carnegie-Mellon, where the English Department is designing what has been called the "first post-structuralist literature curriculum" (90), a development we should all watch with interest. We need to hear more about praxis to be convinced of the consummate practicality of deconstruction. But there is at least one sense in which the essays in this volume are very useful: they challenge our assumptions about reading and writing, making us reflect on the very foundations of our discipline and its pedagogy. Whatever else one might think of deconstruction, it does make us think. SUSAN H. McLEOD Washington State University LOUIE W. ATTEBERY, ed. Idaho Folklife: Homesteads to Headstones. Salt Lake City: University of Utah (for the Idaho State Historical Society), 1985. 237 p. This is a fine book for a number of reasons, and an indispensable one for anyone interested in the unofficial, everyday, grassroots culture of the Mountain West (those dimensions so assiduously avoided in the sober accounts of founding fathers, pioneer mothers, emigration dates, and cattle statistics). Folklife, of course, purposely addresses itself to the expressive elements of everyday life rather than accounting for the actions and tastes of theelite, the powerful, or the remarkable. It finds meaning in self-initiated buildings, in everyday custom, in family songs, and the like, insisting that the continued survival and development of such genres over time give us an unparalleled view of a people's sense of themselves, a barometer of their feelings and tastes, and strong evidence of their artistic capacities. If one wants to find out about the abiding cultural dimensions of a place, one consults its folklore and folklife; thus, if one wants to know about the culture of Idaho, this book is an absolute must, for it goes deeply into the raw materials of that subject. It is no surprise that the effort involves the work of more than 25 folklorists, historians, geographers, and anthropologists, who offer here a stunning range of essays (some descriptive, some analytical) on traditional tools, vernacular architecture, regional language usage, folk songs and tales, the folklore of prominent folk groups (Mormons, Basques, Pioneers, Native Americans, Finns, Swedes), the folklife of occupations (loggers, herders, farmers), medical and funereal customs, and some striking characters whose histories are found more richly in the oral traditions than in the history books of Idaho. For this array of material alone, the book is worth far more than its cost to anyone interested in Idaho. But beyond that, the book will be valuable to anyone interested in the West, for most of the groups and processes Book Reviews241 here discussed are not limited to Idaho; in many regards, this collection provides a cameo of Western folk culture by focusing on meaningful folk expressions which animated both local and regional life. Still another recommendation for the book is that all its essays are well written, interesting, and informative, which makes it a rarity indeed among current anthologies. In the foreword, Wayland Hand, Dean of American folklorists, gives us one of his very best short essays; it provides a history and evaluation of folklore scholarship in the West and places all of the essays into a conceptual framework. Louie Attebery's introduction is also a fine piece of writing, in large part because the author chooses to use the first person (not only...