Subject Area: History-American

Edward Everett's Gettysburg Address: An Annotated Edition

Rogal, Samuel J.
2024 1-4955-1210-X 156 pages
"The principal substance of what follows comprises the complete text of Edward Everett's 'Gettysburg Address'. I have not attempted formal explication or criticism of the text, since sufficient numbers of Everett's biographers, Civil War historians, and specialists in public address and oral rhetoric have already published their reactions, opinions, and conclusions. Instead, I have set before readers of Everett's text a clean plate, providing only the utensils of annotation--principally historical and biographical details for those who need to consult them. I intend this volume as a means of introducing Edward Everett and his 'Address' to those persons who have not gathered, heretofore, any knowledge of the man or his presence at Gettysburg on 19 November 1863." -Samuel J. Rogal ("Introduction")

Hobo Life in the Great Depression

Weideman, Edward C.
2005 0-7734-6024-1 236 pages
In an age when the discovery and publication of forgotten or unknown texts, and the rediscovery of neglected works, are helping to expand the canon of literature with all its distinctively American characteristics, the publication of Edward C. Weideman’s book is a significant event. His writing provides a classic expression of the American experience sometimes labeled in literary studies as “modernism,” which encompasses the early twentieth-century search for the meaning of life in an era of social and economic breakdown, characterized by a sense of loss of a stable, secure world based on a belief in and reliance on absolute truth. The hobo narrative achieves a vividness, authenticity, and directness which might be termed “virtue of location,” drawing the reader into a time warp of Chinatown in Chicago and later the small-town life of Midwestern America in the 1930s, placing it in the tradition of such writers as Walt Whitman, John Steinbeck, Willa Cather, Sinclair Lewis, and Hamlin Garland. The three short stories, written at a time when that genre was receiving increasing recognition as a serious art form, include a poignant tale of a teenager’s rite of passage through humiliation over his father’s perceived lack of education to a profound respect for his father’s wisdom and courage, a story about two old maids who hatch a plot against their ailing older brother that ends in a delightfully humorous final twist, and a macabre tale of a bizarre series of events, reminiscent of Poe.

The North Carolina Militia, 1585-1783

Whisker, James B.
2024 1-4955-1294-0 124 pages
"During the colonial era, the militia system was linked to a fundamental concept of provincial citizenship. Along with church and governments, militia systems were considered to be one of three pillars of provincial society. The colonial militias constituted the primary instrument of defense for the American colonies. By the latter part of the 17th century, the militias had become more complex. ...The structures and functions of local militias and expeditionary forces continued to evolve through the series of imperial wars of the eighteenth century." -James Biser Whisker ("Introduction")

The United States Army, the Great Depression, and the Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942

Daugherty, Leo J.
2024 1-4955-1248-7 108 pages
"From March of 1933 until the entrance of the United States into World War II in December 1941, the U.S. Army participated in one of the largest domestic relief operations in its institutional history--the Civilian Conservation Corps, better known as the 'CCC'. ...This essay illustrates how the Civilian Conservation Corps, while primarily intended as a civilian relief organization during the Great Depression (1929-1940), served as a 'pre-training course' for the men whom eventually served in the Army during the first years of World War II." -Dr. Leo J. Daugherty III