What if the political work of Victorian social-problem novels was precisely to make the reader feel as if reading them---in and of itslf---mattered? Surveying novels by Charles Dickens, Frances Troll
Freehling and Simpson (Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and U. of Western Ontario, Canada) collect selected speeches and debates from the Virginia convention, when disunionists in the state deba
In the spring of 1861, Virginians confronted destiny—their own and their nation’s. Pivotal decisions awaited about secession, the consequences of which would unfold for a hundred years and more. But f
Sadosky (history, Iowa State University) and his colleagues present papers from the 2005 Salzburg Seminar held in Austria. The subtitle for the seminar was "the age of Jefferson" and his experiences i
"Water, water is everywhere in Romantic literature, but most treatments of the poetry of the period have not adequately registered this fact. By situating Romanticism within the historical context of
Hart (modern history, U. of St. Andrews, Scotland) examines Charleston, the fourth largest and wealthiest town in colonial America, within a British perspective, detailing the rise of the city and its
Unlike many United States industries, railroads are intrinsically linked to American soil and particular regions. Yet few Americans pay attention to rail lines, even though millions of them live in an
Michael Field was the pseudonym of Katherine Bradley and her niece, Edith Cooper. In the second half of the nineteenth century they were well known for their poetry and plays. Bickle (Centre for women
Every previous biography of US revolutionary figure Henry (1736-99) has been highly influenced by Thomas Jefferson's unflattering opinion of him, says Hayes (English, U. of Central Oklahoma), but he g
Thami Mnyele was a South African freedom fighter killed in 1985 in a raid on a resistance enclave. He believed that he had to act on his beliefs if he was ever to have political and economic equality
Having studied and lectured about the implications of railroads for about 30 years, Stilgoe (Orchard Professor of Visual & Environmental Studies, Harvard) picks up where he left off in his previou
Sincerity, the belief that the narrator of a poem is the author, is a constantly debated element of theory and practice. Being sincere is being pure, free from commercial culture and indicative of a p
For more than four hundred years, scholars from an array of disciplines have recognized Theodor de Bry's 1590 edition of Thomas Hariot's A briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia as a
North American scholars of religion offer theoretical perspectives on the coincidence of religion and violence in the world today and the implications of both in issues of politics and terrorism. They
In this guide for professional and amateur riders and trainers, Cronin gives an in-depth presentation of the American forward riding system that is the basis of hunter/jumper riding. He reveals how th
Barbour (religion, St. Olaf College) explores some ways in which experiences of solitude, both positive and negative, have been interpreted as religiously significant. His differs from earlier studies
Ivers (government, American U.), McGuire (political science, U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) and contributors examine how the Supreme Court has interpreted the Constitution and thereby created cons
Investigating demands in the late-20th-century US for authentic ethnic texts as a continuation of the expansion of regional literary forms at the beginnings of the century, Karem (English, Cleveland S
Eleven essays by Carlton (history, Vanderbilt U.) and Coclanis (history, U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) discuss the economic history of the American South. Topics include, for example, antebellum
Emancipation and the citizenship that followed conferred upon former slaves the right to create family relationships that were sanctioned, recognized, and regulated by the laws that governed the famil
Divided into four descriptive sections—"Theory and the Ethics of Literary Text," "Confronting the Difficult: The Ethics of Race and Power," "Making Darkness Visible: The Ethical Implications of Narrat
Fifteen papers, collected by Davis (English, Goshen College) and Womack (English, Penn State U.), explore the connections between literary criticism and ethical thinking in the context of the demise o
Representations of Joan of Arc have been used in the United States for the past two hundred years, appearing in advertising, cartoons, popular song, art, criticism, and propaganda. The presence of the
Blaetz (film studies, Mount Holyoke College) provides a thought-provoking critique of the messages conveyed about women, mothers, and patriotism in Joan of Arc films in the 20th century. Three films
German taverns where there was lots of beer-drinking and brawling have a long history, we learn, in Tlusty's account of the social and cultural functions of tavern life in Augsburg in the 16th-18th ce
From the shootings at Columbine High School to the JonBenet Ramsey murder to the sentencing of "killer kids," today's media cannot decide if children are objects of fear or in need of protection. Our
Sensation novels, a genre characterized by scandalous narratives and emotionally and socially provocative dialogue and plots, had their heyday in England in the 1860s-70s. This study explores the cent
Unlike analysts who blame the state, the elite, or the peasantry itself, Bowen (political science, U. of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign) traces the African country's decline in production to policies estab
In The Virginia Adventure, Noel Hume turns his attention to the two earliest English settlements in Virginia, Roanoke and James Towne, with fascinating results. Combining information gathered through
Places the antebellum debate over slavery and states' rights in the context of early discussions of the two-party system and economic development by founding fathers Jefferson and Madison, arguing tha
Following the death of her ship's captain husband during a voyage to South America in 1821, Maria Dundas Graham traveled through Chile for a nine-month period. A well-educated English woman and profes
In what has become the era of the mass shooting, we are routinely taken to scenes of terrible violence. Often neglected, however, is the long aftermath, including the efforts to effect change in the w
Diverging from the studies of southern African migrant labor that focus on particular workplaces and points of origin, Bound for Work looks at the multitude of forms and locales of migrant labor that
Countering the widespread misconception that slavery existed only on plantations, and that urban areas were immune from its impacts, Slavery in the City is the first volume to deal exclusively with t
Charles Dew’s Apostles of Disunion has established itself as a modern classic and an indispensable account of the Southern states’ secession from the Union. Addressing topics still hotly debated amon
In 1845, seven years after fleeing bondage in Maryland, Frederick Douglass was in his late twenties and already a celebrated lecturer across the northern United States. The recent publication of his g
This historical study of a collection of primary source materials analyzes the rhetoric used by Southern secession commissioners’ speeches and public letters written to justify secession, racial s
The author describes how Caribbean people from 1915 to 1950 engaged or avoided engaging with the occupation of Haiti, and how Caribbean politics and literature interacted with internationalist proj
As modern Caribbean politics and literature emerged in the first half of the twentieth century, Haiti, as the region's first independent state, stood as a source of inspiration for imagining decoloniz
Describes Nixon's policies during the last years of the Vietnam War, detailing how the president placed his reelection aspirations above his promise to pull back from Vietnam, manipulating the America
