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The Formation Of The Washington Intellectual Community, 1870-1898, James Kirkpatrick Flack Jr

Wayne State University Dissertations

These pages deal with the post-Civil War emergence in Washington of a self-conscious body of government-scientists and local intellectuals, men whose group identity was established by the network of clubs and societies which they founded and whose self-image was derived from an awareness of shared purposes. This community saw itself as fulfilling two inseparable functions: improving the quality of life at the seat of government by encouraging intellectual pursuits, and using its collective influence to promote national culture, particularly through public science. The interrelationship of these goals rested on the conviction that Washington was destined to become the cultural capitol …

A Study Of Political And Sectional Voting Alignments In The United States Senate, 1921-1929, Patrick Gene O'Brien

Wayne State University Dissertations

Several common and casual assertions about "twenties" politics should come under critical reanalysis, including traditional descriptions of the extent and character of party division. The usual historical generalization is that, although conservativism was the predominant political attitude, both parties were fragmented by sectional and ideological struggles. As a con­ sequence there was a breakdown in the party system. This dissertation tests this conclusion through an examination of voting patterns in the United States Senate from the 67th through the 70th Congress (1921-29), Virtually every politi­cal history of the era touches upon Senate voting align­ments, but there is no extant study …

The Reconciliation Of Science And Religion In Symbolo-Fideism, Shirley Brown Moon

Wayne State University Dissertations

From the publication in 1859 of On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, religion was in open warfare against science. By the end of the century the war was not going well for religion. Biology, anthropology, archeology, the "higher criticism" united in an attack on Christian premises, while "applied science" — technology-provided, the materialistic comforts which made Christian promises utopian and unnecessary. The reaction of some Protestant and Catholic leaders to this threat from science was a retreat into funda­mentalism. Others hastened to show that the recent discoveries were not really in conflict with religious truths at …

The Soviet System And The Historian: E.V. Tarle (1875-1955) As A Case Study, Sidney Robert Sherter

Wayne State University Dissertations

Ever since the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Soviet leaders have viewed the field of history as the most political of the social sciences. Soviet historiography, as a result, has been conditioned by political events; and Marxist-Leninist ideology, also affected by politics, has been used as its philosophical justification.

The flexibility of Soviet ideology has created an almost insurmountable obstacle for the historian. The ra­ tionale behind historical scholarship has been and still is utility, with the historian being used as a tool in support of ideological or political platforms proposed by the Party. As an employee of the state, the …