Digital Commons Network^™

Power Grid Resiliency Enhancement Against Flood-Induced Hazards, Mohadese Movahednia

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Natural disasters, such as floods, may damage power system assets and lead to widespread and long outages. The impact of flood can be alleviated by preventive actions such as installing tiger dams around power substations before the flood. In this regard, it is imperative that critical substations are identified in terms of the connected load and imposed costs to the system. This study presents a resource allocation approach for protecting power substations against flood events a day ahead of the event. First, the required information for the model is extracted. Flood probability distribution functions are used to generate several flood …

In Search Of The Armorial Aesthetic: The Counter-Reform Of Ariano Suassuna And The Compositional Techniques In Clovis Pereira’S Suite Macambira, Wagner De Oliveira Duarte

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, in the wake of the Week of Modern Art in São Paulo in 1922, Brazil grappled with defining its national identity, distinct from European influences. While eminent figures such as Villa-Lobos, Camargo Guarnieri, and Francisco Mignone provided foundational narratives in this quest, the Armorial movement emerged as a unique and emblematic response to these nationalistic aspirations.

Originating from the creative vision of Ariano Suassuna, the Armorial movement, though often perceived as a regional initiative, epitomized a broader endeavor to represent Brazil's diverse cultural tapestry. Central to understanding this movement is the work …

Women At Work: Pathways From Gender Stereotypes To Gender Bias And Discrimination, Madeline E. Heilman, Suzette Caleo, Francesca Manzi

Faculty Publications

Despite important advances, gender-based discrimination continues to hin-der women’s career progress. This review examines the role that gender stereotypes play in promoting gender bias and discrimination. After review- ing what is known about the content of gender stereotypes and examining both their descriptive and prescriptive aspects, we discuss two pathways through which stereotypes result in discrepant work outcomes for women and men. First, we consider how the characterization of women as com- munal but not agentic conflicts with the perceived demands of many male gender-typed jobs and fields, thus promoting perceptions of women’s lack of competence in those areas. Second, …

Death, Dreaming, And Diaspora: Achieving Orientation Through Afro-Spirituality, Liz Johnston, Jaime Elizabeth Johnston

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Enslavement, colonization, and the systems that uphold racial injustice were and still are a series of new, unfathomable, and challenging experiences that prompt individuals within the diaspora to seek orientation. How does a human cope with centuries of attempts at the systematic destruction of their humanity, culture, and identity? How can they reclaim that identity, especially when so much of it seems lost? I address these questions by utilizing texts from the expansive body of work regarding ethnographic-historical-religious studies on Afro-spiritual practices to better analyze instances in literature in the ongoing practice of diasporic orientation. In this project, I argue …

Incubating Education: The Lived Experiences Of Louisiana Elementary And Middle School Teachers When Piloting A 4-H Stem School Enrichment Curriculum, Crystal Rose Ahrens

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study addressed a deficiency in the agricultural literacy of the U.S. population by focusing on the challenges that core subject teachers face when integrating agriculture into their curriculum. Using a phenomenological research approach, this investigation explored the lived experiences of Louisiana teachers who piloted a 4-H STEM curriculum, focusing on the growth in agricultural literacy of the teachers while instructing third and eighth-grade students on the agricultural-based and STEM-focused topic of embryology. Employing a transcendental phenomenological approach, I acknowledged my biases through reflexivity and adhered to ethical considerations, including informed consent and confidentiality. Key findings emerged through four themes …

The Relationship Between The Saharan Air Layer, Convective Environmental Conditions, And Precipitation In Puerto Rico, P. W. Miller, C. Ramseyer

Faculty Publications

The Saharan Air Layer (SAL) is a hot, dry, and dust-laden feature that advects large concentrations of dust across the Atlantic annually to destination regions in the Americas and Caribbean. However, recent work has suggested the SAL may be a contributing factor to high-impact drought in the Caribbean basin. While the SAL's characteristic dust loadings have been the focus of much previous research, fewer efforts have holistically engaged the co-evolution of the dust plume, its associated convective environment, and resultant rainfall in Caribbean islands. This study employs a self-organizing map (SOM) classification to identify the common trans-Atlantic dust transport typologies …

Machine-Learning-Assisted Leak Detection Using Distributed Temperature And Acoustic Sensors, Hayden Gemeinhardt, Jyotsna Sharma

Faculty Publications

Small leaks, many of which often go undetected using conventional gauges, remain an urgent problem for an aging pipeline infrastructure. This article proposes a method that allows for an automated and robust leak detection and localization system by fusing distributed acoustic sensor (DAS) and distributed temperature sensor (DTS) data for machine learning. Distributed fiber-optic sensing creates an advantage over conventional gauges by providing real-time continuous measurements along the entire length of the fiber-instrumented pipeline at a high spatiotemporal resolution and sensitivity that can detect small leaks, as well as the leak location. High sensitivity, however, can create noisy data. Thus, …

Free-Standing 3d Printing Of Epoxy-Vinyl Ether Structures Using Radical-Induced Cationic Frontal Polymerization, Brecklyn R. Groce, Alexandra V. Aucoin, Md Asmat Ullah, Jake Dicesare, Claire Wingfield, Jonathan Sardin, Jackson T. Harris, John C. Nguyen, Patrick Raley, Svetlana S. Stanley, Genevieve Palardy, John A. Pojman

Faculty Publications

The application of frontal polymerization to additive manufacturing has advantages in energy consumption and speed of printing. Additionally, with frontal polymerization, it is possible to print free-standing structures that require no supports. A resin was developed using a mixture of epoxies and vinyl ether with an iodonium salt and peroxide initiating system that frontally polymerizes through radical-induced cationic frontal polymerization. The formulation, which was optimized for reactivity, physical properties, and rheology, allowed the printing of free-standing structures. Increasing ratios of vinyl ether and reactive cycloaliphatic epoxide were found to increase the front velocity. Addition of carbon nanofibers increased the front …

Time, Place, & Purpose: The Performance Of Creole Identity In Louisiana, Rachel N. Aker

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Though much of the early development of Louisiana Creole culture can be found in New Orleans, the culture spread and continued to grow throughout the rest of South Louisiana in both similar and different ways. Expanding beyond Joseph Roach’s treatment of Creole cultural performances in New Orleans in Cities of the Dead (1996) and journeying across land and water, this project identifies more Creole cultural performance as they emerge across place and time. I present Louisiana and the Gulf South as a kind of inland archipelago, with the currents of culture-creation moving in and around distinct community enclaves. The flow …

Enhancing Bridge Resilience And Overheight Vehicle Mitigation Through Innovative Sacrificial Cushion Systems, Aly Mousaad Aly, Marc Hoffmann

Faculty Publications

Transportation departments have made significant strides in addressing the challenges posed by the increasing weights of trucks on bridges. While there is a growing awareness of overheight vehicle collisions with bridges, implementing effective countermeasures remains limited. The susceptibility of bridges to damage from such collisions is on the rise, further exacerbated by unpredictable lateral impact forces. This study employs nonlinear impact analysis to assess the response of an unprotected vehicle-girder model, yielding realistic deformation outcomes comparable to observed impacts on the US-61 bridge. Predictions for a truck traveling at 112.65 km/h indicate deformations of 0.229 m, 0.161 m, and 0.271 …

Machine Learning-Based Soybean Yield Prediction And Optimizing Lidar-Mounted Uav Efficiency, Leticia Santos

LSU Master's Theses

The first chapter of this thesis explores the predictive capabilities of random forests algorithm on datasets obtained from field plot experiments on crop management systems in soybean. Furthermore, the chapter presents a complementary analysis of model performance according to dataset sizes and two techniques on how to impute and deal with missing data. Random forests are being compared with standard statistical techniques such as linear regression on a well-structured, information-rich agronomic experiment. The key findings of this chapter includes the best hyperparameters adjustment and the identification of the dataset threshold for optimal algorithms performance. The second chapter has a research …

Scenario Setup And Forcing Data For Impact Model Evaluation And Impact Attribution Within The Third Round Of The Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (Isimip3a), Katja Frieler, Jan Volkholz, Stefan Lange, Jacob Schewe, Matthias Mengel, María Del Rocío Rivas López, Christian Otto, Christopher P.O. Reyer, Dirk Nikolaus Karger, Johanna T. Malle, Simon Treu, Christoph Menz, Julia L. Blanchard, Cheryl S. Harrison, Colleen M. Petrik, Tyler D. Eddy, Kelly Ortega-Cisneros, Camilla Novaglio, Yannick Rousseau, Reg A. Watson, Charles Stock, Xiao Liu, Ryan Heneghan, Derek Tittensor, Olivier Maury, Matthias Büchner, Thomas Vogt, Tingting Wang, Fubao Sun, Inga J. Sauer, Johannes Koch, Inne Vanderkelen, Jonas Jägermeyr

Faculty Publications

This paper describes the rationale and the protocol of the first component of the third simulation round of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP3a, http://www.isimip.org, last access: 2 November 2023) and the associated set of climate-related and direct human forcing data (CRF and DHF, respectively). The observation-based climate-related forcings for the first time include high-resolution observational climate forcings derived by orographic downscaling, monthly to hourly coastal water levels, and wind fields associated with historical tropical cyclones. The DHFs include land use patterns, population densities, information about water and agricultural management, and fishing intensities. The ISIMIP3a impact model simulations driven …

Attochemistry Regulation Of Charge Migration, Aderonke Folorunso

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Charge migration (CM) is a coherent attosecond process that involves the movement of localized holes across a molecule. This phenomenon is potentially useful to understand the fundamental principles of photochemistry, such as light harvesting. The first part of this dissertation discusses the molecular modes of attosecond charge migration. In this work, we used first-principles calculations to investigate the modes of charge migration (CM) in halogenated hydrocarbon chains at attosecond timescales. We have simulated the creation of a localized hole on the halogen atom using constrained density functional theory (DFT) and then tracked its subsequent dynamics with time-dependent DFT (TDDFT). Our …

Sediment Resuspension And Transport In The Offshore Subaqueous Yangtze Delta During Winter Storms, Min Tian, Haifei Yang, Wenxiang Zhang, Kehui Xu, Benwei Shi, Yaping Wang, Shilun Yang

Faculty Publications

Storm-induced episodic sediment redistribution in coastal systems can reshape geomorphic bodies, disrupt ecosystems, and cause economic damage. However, cold-wave-storm-induced hydrodynamic changes and residual sediment transport in large, exposed subaqueous deltas, such as the Yangtze Delta, are poorly understood because it is typically expensive and difficult to obtain systematic field data in open coast settings during storm events. We conducted a successful field survey of waves, currents, changes in water depth, and turbidity at a station (time-averaged water depth of 20 m) in the offshore subaqueous Yangtze Delta over 10 days during winter, covering two storms and two fair-weather periods. During …

Subsurface Redox Interactions Regulate Ebullitive Methane Flux In Heterogeneous Mississippi River Deltaic Wetland, Jiaze Wang, Theresa O'Meara, Sophie Lafond-Hudson, Songjie He, Kanchan Maiti, Eric J. Ward, Benjamin N. Sulman

Faculty Publications

As interfaces connecting terrestrial and ocean ecosystems, coastal wetlands develop temporally and spatially complex redox conditions, which drive uncertainties in greenhouse gas emission as well as the total carbon budget of the coastal ecosystem. To evaluate the role of complex redox reactions in methane emission from coastal wetlands, a coupled reactive-transport model was configured to represent subsurface biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur, along with production and transport of multiple gas species through diffusion and ebullition. This model study was conducted at multiple sites along a salinity gradient in the Barataria Basin at the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain. Over …

Charting The Scorched Trails: A Comparative Analysis Of Roadway Damage From Historical Megafires To The Unprecedented 2020 Labor Day Wildfires On The Usa West Coast, Kevin Christiansen, Ayat Al Assi, Rubayet Bin Mostafiz, Robert V. Rohli

Faculty Publications

Roadways in the US states of Washington (WA), Oregon (OR), and California (CA) incurred extraordinary damage during the 2020 Labor Day wildfires. However, the cost and risk of these fires have not been placed in a historical perspective. This study examines the damage to roadways affected by the 2020 Labor Day wildfires in relation to the history of megafires in WA (1902–2023), OR (1845– 2023), and CA (1889–2023) using carefully selected data sets gathered from the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), and California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). A method for classifying road damage from …

Identifying And Filling Critical Knowledge Gaps Can Optimize Financial Viability Of Blue Carbon Projects In Tidal Wetlands, Tim J.B. Carruthers, S. Beaux Jones, Megan K. Terrell, Jonathan F. Scheibly, Brendan J. Player, Valerie A. Black, Justin R. Ehrenwerth, Patrick D. Biber, Rod M. Connolly, Steve Crooks, Jason P. Curole, Kelly M. Darnell, Alyssa M. Dausman, Allison L. Dejong, Shawn M. Doyle, Christopher R. Esposito, Daniel A. Friess, James W. Fourqurean, Ioannis Y. Georgiou, Gabriel D. Grimsditch, Songjie He, Eva R. Hillmann, Guerry O. Holm, Jennifer Howard, Hoonshin Jung, Stacy D. Jupiter, Erin Kiskaddon, Ken W. Krauss, Paul S. Lavery, Bingqing Liu, Catherine E. Lovelock, Sarah K. Mack, Peter I. Macreadie

Faculty Publications

One of the world’s largest “blue carbon” ecosystems, Louisiana’s tidal wetlands on the US Gulf of Mexico coast, is rapidly being lost. Louisiana’s strong legal, regulatory, and monitoring framework, developed for one of the world’s largest tidal wetland systems, provides an opportunity for a programmatic approach to blue carbon accreditation to support restoration of these ecologically and economically important tidal wetlands. Louisiana’s coastal wetlands span ∼1.4 million ha and accumulate 5.5–7.3 Tg yr⁻¹ of blue carbon (organic carbon), ∼6%–8% of tidal marsh blue carbon accumulation globally. Louisiana has a favorable governance framework to advance blue carbon accreditation, due to …

Correction: Effect Of Mississippi River Discharge Plume On Temporal And Spatial Variability Of Toxic Cyanobacteria In An Oligohaline Estuary (Hydrobiologia, (2024), 851, 1, (87-103), 10.1007/S10750-023-05322-3), Callie Snow, Sibel Bargu, Courtney Nicole Hammond, Matthew Hiatt, John R. White

Faculty Publications

The above-mentioned publication contains an erroneous calculation of flushing times using Eq. 1 in the paper. In the published version, we report flushing times as follows: “According to Eq. 1, flushing times associated with the BCS openings were 45 and 54 days for the first and second openings in 2019, respectively.” In the Discussion section, flushing time is erroneously reported as 51 days. These errors arose from a mistake in calculating the tidal prism of Lake Pontchartrain. In the published version, a data entry mistake in a spreadsheet formula led to 6 km² being used for the area of …

Habitat Use And Movements Of Parrotfishes In A Hawaiian Coral Reef Seascape, Senifa F. Annandale, Jason P. Turner, Daniel L. Lippi, Michael Dance, R. J.David Wells, Jay R. Rooker

Faculty Publications

Parrotfishes (family Scaridae) are important to coral reef ecosystems and highly prized by both commercial and recreational fishers in the Hawaiian Islands. Although parrotfishes are known to be strictly diurnal, our knowledge of their habitat use and movement patterns across daily timescales in tropical systems is still somewhat limited. Here, acoustic telemetry was used to determine parrotfish habitat use and movements within a coral reef seascape at Puakō, Hawai‘i. An array of acoustic receivers was deployed in a nearshore reef to track fine-scale movements of two common species: ember parrotfish (Scarus rubroviolaceus) and palenose parrotfish (Scarus psittacus). Transmitters were mounted …

Research Criteria Towards An Interdisciplinary Stratospheric Aerosol Intervention Assessment, Simone Tilmes, Karen H. Rosenlof, Daniele Visioni, Ewa M. Bednarz, Tyler Felgenhauer, Wake Smith, Chris Lennard, Michael S. Diamond, Matthew Henry, Cheryl S. Harrison, Chelsea Thompson

Faculty Publications

With surface temperatures already reaching unprecedented highs, resulting in significant adverse consequences for societies and ecosystems, there are increasing calls to expand research into climate interventions, including Stratospheric Aerosol Intervention (SAI). However, research and dissemination are currently fragmented and would benefit from a comprehensive international assessment of the current state of knowledge regarding impacts, risks, and recommendations for future SAI research directions. The goals of a scientific assessment would be to describe the current state of SAI research and evaluate proposed scenario-strategy combinations through well-designed evaluation guidelines. The suggested iterative approach would integrate natural and social science considerations to guide …

Response Of River Delta Hydrological Connectivity To Changes In River Discharge And Atmospheric Frontal Passage, Sajjad Feizabadi, Chunyan Li, Matthew Hiatt

Faculty Publications

Atmospheric frontal passage is a common meteorological event that can significantly affect hydrodynamics in coastal environments, including the hydrological connectivity between channels and floodplains that regulates material transport in river deltas. This study is focused on the influence of atmospheric cold fronts on the hydrological connectivity between channels and floodplains within the Wax Lake Delta using the Delft3D FM model. The results demonstrate a substantial effect of passing cold fronts on the exchange of water and transport fraction between the primary channels and floodplains. This impact is intricately connected to the morphodynamical characteristics of the floodplains, the intensity of cold …

A Scalogram-Based Cnn Approach For Audio Classification In Construction Sites, Michele Scarpiniti, Raffaele Parisi, Yong Cheol Lee

Faculty Publications

The automatic monitoring of activities in construction sites through the proper use of acoustic signals is a recent field of research that is currently in continuous evolution. In particular, the use of techniques based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) working on the spectrogram of the signal or its mel-scale variants was demonstrated to be quite successful. Nevertheless, the spectrogram has some limitations, which are due to the intrinsic trade-off between temporal and spectral resolutions. In order to overcome these limitations, in this paper, we propose employing the scalogramas a proper time–frequency representation of the audio signal. The scalogram is defined …

Fascism: A Reading List With Notes, Michael F. Russo

Faculty Publications

Today, Fascism is on the rise around the world including, dismayingly, in the United States of America, threatening the rule of law, which is the basis of democracy. In the U. S. Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican nominee for president, has declared himself the standard bearer for authoritarian rule. If he wins, it is likely the United States will cease to be a democracy. If democracy is to survive, it is essential that citizens understand fascism, how it comes into existence, and what it does once it has taken root is essential. That is the reason for this reading list.

Deciphering Genetic Factors Contributing To Enhanced Resistance Against Cercospora Leaf Blight In Soybean (Glycine Max L.) Using Gwas Analysis, Jinesh Patel, Tom W. Allen, Blair Buckley, Pengyin Chen, Michael Clubb, Leandro A. Mozzoni, Moldir Orazaly, Liliana Florez, David Moseley, John C. Rupe, Bishnu K. Shrestha, Paul P. Price, Brian M. Ward, Jenny Koebernick

Faculty Publications

Cercospora leaf blight (CLB), caused by Cercospora cf. flagellaris, C. kikuchii, and C. cf. sigesbeckiae, is a significant soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] disease in regions with hot and humid conditions causing yield loss in the United States and Canada. There is limited information regarding resistant soybean cultivars, and there have been marginal efforts to identify the genomic regions underlying resistance to CLB. A Genome-Wide Association Study was conducted using a diverse panel of 460 soybean accessions from maturity groups III to VII to identify the genomic regions associated to the CLB disease. These accessions were evaluated for CLB in …

Cotton Host Resistance As A Tool For Managing Rotylenchulus Reniformis In Louisiana, Tristan T. Watson

Faculty Publications

The reniform nematode, Rotylenchulus reniformis, is a major yield-limiting pest of upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) in the United States that has been steadily increasing in incidence in many states. Reniform nematode-resistant cotton cultivars have recently become commercially available for cotton producers; however, few field trials have evaluated their efficacy as a nematode management tool. The aim of this study was to evaluate reniform nematode population development, plant growth, and seed cotton yield of reniform nematode-resistant cotton cultivars in two nematode-infested fields in Louisiana. Replicated small-plot field trials were conducted in St. Joseph, LA (NERS field) and Winnsboro, LA (MRRS field) …

Serine Proteinase Inhibitors From Nicotiana Benthamiana, A Nonpreferred Host Plant, Inhibit The Growth Of Myzus Persicae (Green Peach Aphid), Honglin Feng, Georg Jander

Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: The green peach aphid (Myzus persicae) is a severe agricultural crop pest that has developed resistance to most current control methods, requiring the urgent development of novel strategies. Plant proteinase inhibitors (PINs) are small proteins that protect plants against pathogens and/or herbivores, likely by preventing efficient protein digestion. RESULTS: We identified 67 protease genes in the transcriptomes of three M. persicae lineages (USDA-Red, G002 and G006). Comparison of gene expression levels in aphid guts and whole aphids showed that several proteases, including a highly expressed serine protease, are significantly overexpressed in the guts. Furthermore, we identified three genes encoding …

Registration Of ‘Ho 13-739’ Sugarcane, James R. Todd, Anna L. Hale, Yong Bao Pan, Thomas L. Tew, William H. White, Edwis O. Dufrene, Michael P. Grisham, Jeff Hoy, Hannah J. Penn, Blake Wilson, Albert Orgeron, Herman Waguespack, Michael Pontif, Kenneth A. Gravois, Windell R. Jackson, Michael J. Duet, Cory Landry, David L. Verdun

Faculty Publications

‘Ho 13-739’ (Reg. no. CV-214, PI 703499) sugarcane (a Saccharum spp. complex polyploid) was selected and evaluated by scientists at the USDA-ARS in Houma, LA, in cooperation with the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center and the American Sugar Cane League, Inc. It was released to growers in Louisiana in 2020. Results from evaluations in plant-cane and first- and second-ratoon crops at 13 field locations revealed that sucrose content and stalk weight of Ho 13-739 were significantly greater than ‘L 01-299’ in every crop and across the crop cycle. Sucrose yield was not significantly different than L 01-299 for all crops …

Diving At High Altitude: O2 Transport And Utilization In The Ruddy Duck And Torrent Duck In The Andes, Kevin G. Mccracken, Graham R. Scott, Luis Alza, Andrea Astie, Ciska Bakkeren, Emil Bautista, Mariana Bulgarella, Rebecca Cheek G. Cheek, Beverly A. Chua, Neal J. Dawson, Alexis Diaz, Catherine M. Ivy, Peter B. Frappell, Cecilia Kopuchian, Sabine L. Laguë, John N. Maina, Violeta Muñoz-Fuentes, Elizabeth R. Schell, Matthew M. Smith, Ryan J. Sprenger, Pablo L. Tubaro, Elizabeth R. Schell, Matthew M. Smith, Ryan J. Sprenger, Pablo L. Tubaro, Thomas Valqui, Roy E. Weber, Daniela Wilner, Robert E. Wilson, Julia M. York, William K. Milsom

Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University

Hypoxia and cold temperatures create unique physiological challenges for high-altitude organisms that can vary depending on lifestyle. While nearly all studies of air-breathing animals at high altitude are from terrestrial species, species that breath-hold dive underwater at high altitude encounter a very different set of selective pressures influencing their phenotype. The goal of this publication is to highlight the changes in O2 transport and utilization in high-altitude diving birds relative to divers at sea level, and the extent to which these changes are qualitatively distinct from phenotypic changes in non-diving species at high altitude. For example, while high capacities for …

Louisiana Agriculture Magazine, Winter 2024, Lsu Agcenter

Louisiana Agriculture

Research at the LSU AgCenter extends well beyond the farm gate. Across 150 acres at the Hammond Research Station, experts in landscape horticulture test the best ways to grow ornamental plants and trees. In Baton Rouge, researchers study how to protect homes in the path of a hurricane. Across the state the AgCenter Healthy Communities team works to empower food pantries and improve sidewalks and other pedestrian infrastructure in rural areas.

This issue of Louisiana Agriculture focuses on these topics along with new research on soil health and high-tech delivery systems for sugarcane ripening agents. Other articles focus on the …

The Civil War Political Tradition: Ten Portraits Of Those Who Formed It, Christopher J. Olsen

Civil War Book Review

Paul Escott has composed ten concise but deeply learned and incisive biographies of key Americans in the years leading up to the Civil War. Escott profiles Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, Stephen A. Douglas, Jefferson Davis, Abraham Lincoln, Horace Greeley, Albion Tourgée, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, illustrating how these men and women established, embodied, and advanced the opposing political and cultural trends that culminated in the great crisis of the nineteenth century.