A recent special issue of the Journal of American Folklore, "Constructing Folklife and Negotiating the Nation(al): The Smithsonian Folklife Festival," provides an opportunity for Festival staff, participants, and visitors to view the Festival through the academic lenses of six scholars. Looking at three American and three international programs, these writers shed light on the complex process of organizing the Festival and, in several cases, also describe the responses of participants and audiences. The Festival visitor would do well to read these analyses to gain a better appreciation not only of the complexity behind Festival organization,