William Trotter Porter is usually regarded as one of the most significant individuals in the development of what has come to be known as the "Humor of the Southwest." It would be easy to think of Porter in terms of anomalies. Porter was a New Englander by birth and a resident of New York City for most of his life. He did not intend to found a journal of humor; he did not write humor himself. Yet, The New-York Spirit of the Times-- the journal he founded in New York City, owned for perhaps ten years, and edited for more than twenty-- played a seminal role in the development of Southwestern humor. The two volumes he edited from The Spirit of the Times--The Big Bear of Arkansas (1845) and A Quarter Race in Kentucky (1846)--along with the journal itself brought national attention to most of the significant figures of...