Annotations: Spring 2019, Tom Barber

Civil War Book Review

No abstract provided.

A Confederate Biography: The Cruise Of The Css Shenandoah, Trevor Cox

Civil War Book Review

In A Confederate Biography Dwight Sturtevant Hughes chronicles the journey of the cruiser CSS Shenandoah: both geographically as it traversed every one of the earth’s oceans except the Antarctic, but also emotionally; through the personal, political, and ideological experience of the men who served on her. Hughes quotes the famed captain of the CSS Alabama Raphael Semmes on page 1 that “The cruise of a ship is a biography. The ship becomes a personification”, the author himself stating that a ship can be “a central character in a life story through which we view more clearly our ancestors, their …

Aberration Of Mind: Suicide And Suffering In The Civil War-Era South, Tom Barber

Civil War Book Review

No abstract provided.

The Calculus Of Violence: How Americans Fought The Civil War, Tom Barber

Civil War Book Review

No abstract provided.

A Fierce Glory: Antietam—The Desperate Battle That Saved Lincoln And Doomed Slavery, Mark A. Neels

Civil War Book Review

The bloodiest single day in American military history, the Battle of Antietam was also a pivotal moment in the Civil War that is nonetheless often overshadowed by more infamous battles such as Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Gettysburg. Still, a number of good full-length accounts do exist. Among them are James Murphin’s The Gleam of Bayonets (1965), John Michael Priest’s Antietam: The Soldier’s Battle (1989), Stephen Sears’ Landscape Turned Red (1993), and James McPherson’s Crossroads of Freedom (2002). Besides the staggering numbers of casualties, perhaps what most attracts scholars and Civil War enthusiasts to this particular battle is the fame (or infamy) …

The Calculus Of Violence: How Americans Fought The Civil War, Lorien Foote

Civil War Book Review

Historians walk two tight ropes when they write about the past: one rope divides generalization from particularization and the other divides continuity from change. If a scholar falls off the rope and lands on one side or the other, the result is a book that oversimplifies and distorts the portrait of the past. Historians must find a way to identify broad patterns without losing variations and local nuance; they must explain change over time without losing sight of all that remained the same. It is a difficult balancing act, but when done well, tight-rope walking produces an interpretation of the …

Rapidly Expanding Nuclear Arsenals In Pakistan And India Portend Regional And Global Catastrophe, O.B. Toon, C.G. Bardeen, A. Robock, L. Xia, H. Kristensen, M. Mckinzie, R.J. Peterson, C.S. Harrison, N.S. Lovenduski, R.P. Turco

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Civil War In The Southwest Borderlands, 1861-1867, Robert L. Glaze

Civil War Book Review

Civil War historiography has been well served by the recent proliferation of borderland studies. This burgeoning corner of the conflict’s literature has added nuance to our understanding of emancipation, the war in Appalachia, the Confederate diaspora, the Native American experience, and the war’s transnational dimensions. Civil War in the Southwest Borderlands by Andrew E. Masich is an accessible and well-researched addition to the literature.

In this sweeping, largely narrative history, Masich argues “that cultural groups fought civil wars in the Southwest Borderlands concurrent with and connected to the American Civil War and that such wars often occur when two or …

Coast-To-Coast Empire: Manifest Destiny And The New Mexico Borderlands, Janne Lahti

Civil War Book Review

Billy Kiser, an Assistant Professor of History at Texas A & M University – San Antonio, is one remarkably productive historian. This time he has written an engaging and interesting study of the first decades of United States conquest in New Mexico. Kiser proposes that the Santa Fe trade, the American military occupation during the Mexican-American War, the antebellum Indian wars, the slavery question, the transcontinental railroad speculations, and the Civil War should be seen as “a single, interconnected process of imposed political and ideological transformation” (p. 13). While arguing that New Mexico mattered in the era’s national context more …

Physicochemical And Ecotoxicological Assessment Of Biochar For Environmental Application, Maria Guillermina Cantou

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Multiple benefits of biochar conversion and utilization, including soil carbon sequestration and environmental remediation, have been proposed by researchers. Biochar may be produced from a wide array of feedstocks and pyrolytic process conditions. This influences the final biochar composition, which includes the presence of potential pollutants that could ultimately result in detrimental environmental impacts. The major purpose of this research was to improve our understanding of potential unintended effects of biochar addition to the environment either as a potential source of toxicity towards organisms or as a material influencing availabilities of other soil contaminants. Biochars were produced from ten different …

Discussion Forum: The Vanishing Nineteenth Century In European History?, David Blackbourn, James M. Brophy, Pieter M. Judson, Alexander M. Martin, Lloyd S. Kramer, Alex Chase-Levenson, Roger Chickering, Simone Lässig, Suzanne Marchand, Karen Hagemann, Sebastian Conrad, Birgit Aschmann, Insa Kummer, Jürgen Osterhammel, Andrew Zimmerman

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Carlos Puebla And The People's History Of The Cuban Revolution (1956-1980), Juan Rodríguez-Cepero

LSU Master's Theses

The Cuban Revolution was one of the most important events in 20th century Latin American history. The unlikely success of revolutionary heroes such as Fidel Castro and Ernesto “Che” Guevara inspired not only similar movements throughout the region, but an entire generation of artists and musicians. One such artist was Cuban singer-songwriter Carlos Puebla. A long-time critic of Batista and his corrupt administration, Puebla set to music the ideals that the Revolution sought to build a new Cuba upon. In a country which

most of the population was illiterate until 1961, the music of artists such as Puebla served as …

First-Principles Study On The Catalytic Role Of Cerium Dioxide In The Conversion Of Organic Compounds, Chuanlin Zhao

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Ceria is an earth-abundant material that has been widely used in heterogeneous catalysis, environmental catalysis, and energy applications thanks for its ability to readily convert between different oxidation states. The objective of this study is to theoretically elucidate the reaction mechanisms for the conversion of model organic compounds on ceria, in order to gain insights for the design of cost-effective and selective ceria-based catalysts. Acetaldehyde, acetic acid, and para-nitrophenyl phosphate monoester were selected as the model compounds to probe ceria surfaces. Density functional theory calculations can provide accurate predictions of adsorption and reaction energetics, which can be used to …

“Breathless Zeal And Careless Confidence”: German Propaganda In World War I (1914-1918), Elisabeth Fondren

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the building and rethinking of German propaganda institutions during World War I. The goal of this dissertation is to illustrate the evolution of German government ideas on propaganda between 1914-1918.

During the war, German military leaders, politicians, and diplomats had ambitions to change, reform and modernize approaches to media governance. They were losing the battle of ideas, they realized early on. And so German officials were desperate to make propaganda fit into the structure of government; they tried to use new media technologies to be more persuasive. Although there was an abundance of ideas, all of their …

Feminist Tweets To Trump: How To Find Commonality In Diversity, Sally Kitch

Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education

No abstract provided.

Altar To Uncertainty, Kelly Stombaugh

LSU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

I have always been in awe of great storytellers. Like an alchemist, the masterful storyteller can take the most mundane of tales and transmute it into an enrapturing experience. The best of these, however, are the stories which seem very otherworldly but, in the end, can reveal deep and relatable truths to the listener.

For this exhibition, “Altar to Uncertainty,” I have undertaken the creation of a single book and story which surrounds and visually extends itself through printed etchings upon the walls to tell a transformative tale of redemption through trauma, hopelessness and loss.

My intention with this …

At The Edge Of Humanity: American Indian Legal Identity And The Development Of American Citizenship, Zachary Charles Isenhower

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Civic standing in the formative era of the United States was defined by land ownership. Landless white Americans demanded access to western lands, while the American government regulated settler pressure on the borderlands in order to preserve peace, and maintain its authority over citizens. Simultaneously, the U.S. depended upon western lands for revenue and on settlers for expanding its domain. As acquisition of property by white Americans depended in very real terms on dispossessing Indians of their lands, justifying that dispossession became one of the most fraught intellectual processes in American thought.

This project explores how civic identity was not …

Our Academic Penalscape: Slow Work In Always Urgent Times, Erica Meiners

Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education

No abstract provided.

A Black Girl’S Song Misogynoir, Love, And Beyoncé’S Lemonade, Zeffie Gaines

Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education

This article examines Beyoncé’s 2016 album Lemonade in the context of black feminist theory, misogynoir, and issues of black self-love. After a brief overview of the initial response to Beyoncé’s album, this essay explores the deeper, metaphorical implication of Lemonade. This essay demonstrates that while Lemonade is ostensibly about marital infidelity, the trope of unfaithfulness is used to make a more profound commentary on the ontological crisis around blackness and black womanhood in American culture. Through close readings of several important scenes and tracks in Lemonade, this essay demonstrates that this album constitutes a masterwork by Beyoncé and should be …

Linguistic Political Ecology With The Ngäbe Indigenous People Of Panama, Ginés A. Sánchez Arias

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Indigenous communities from all corners of the globe live in uncertain times. From the vantage point of their “remote" lands, they undergo some of globalization’s most harmful externalities. Their homes become increasingly harder to maintain as extractive industries, development schemes, clandestine land grabs, and national bureaucracies encroach creating new colonial lands. First by assimilation, and then integration, these processes systematically undermine indigenous culture and autonomy. In place of such destructive coloniality, indigenous societies shelter unique ecological and linguistic knowledge that continues to serve their progress. This research applies lessons learned from studying with Ngäbe communities of western Panama, towards a …

Shades Of Gray: Why Russian Propaganda Is No Longer A Black And White Issue, Karli Walleser

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Percepción Y Periodismo: Bohemia In 1950s Cuba, Jeffrey E. O'Brien

LSU Master's Theses

Bohemia is perhaps one of the most popularly used sources among Cuban historians because of its array of content. For the vast majority of scholars, the use of Bohemia’s content is utilized to put the nature of the Cuban Revolution in perspective. Rarely have historians ever analyzed Bohemia itself, as a publication. What is intriguing is that historians who analyze the Cuban Revolution usually conclude the leit motif of the insurrection evolved around—and was prompted by—the rupture of the constitutional order. Bohemia, as a magazine committed to democracy—free speech, transparency, fair elections, and so on—provides an important way to see …

Rebel Governance In Civil War: Variations In Rebel Governance - A Case Study Analysis., Harriet Ann Sellers

LSU Master's Theses

Insurgent groups vary in how they interact with civilians. Some insurgent groups perform government functions to further their political objectives during civil war, whilst other rebel groups use solely violent means. Why do some insurgent groups perform governance functions to further their political objectives, whilst others interact very little with the local population? I seek to explain the variation in rebel governance, which I argue is motivated by the objective of the insurgency. More specifically, I argue that secessionist insurgencies are more likely to implement governance structures than non-secessionist insurgent groups. Using an in-depth case study analysis, I found varying …

Higher Energy Gap Control Of Fluorescence In Conjugated Polymers, Chien-Hung Chiang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Chemo- and biosensors based on fluorescent conjugated polymer benefit from greater detection sensitivity due to amplification of the electronic perturbations produced by analyte binding. This amplification stems from the exciton-transporting properties of conjugated polymers. A conventional design paradigm relies on the analyte binding events which generate sites of lower energy relative to the polymer energy: either fluorescence quenching sites (turn-off sensors) or bathochromically shifted fluorophores (turn-on sensors). In both type sensors, the excitons migrate to the lower-energy site created by analyte binding.

This dissertation primarily focused the investigation of an alternative paradigm when analyte binding creates higher energy gap sites …

Analysis Of Marine Sediment By Chemical Signatures And Loss-On Ignition To Discover Evidence Of Ancient Maya Activities At Site 74, Paynes Creek Salt Works, Belize, Kobi Weaver

LSU Master's Theses

In this thesis, archaeological sediment chemistry, loss-on ignition and microscopic analysis of marine sediment are used to study Site 74 of the Paynes Creek Salt Works in southern Belize. Site 74 was once an ancient Maya salt work. Due to sea-level rise, sea water and mangrove peat now cover the site. Sediment from the site was exported under permit to the Louisiana State University Laboratory. I prepared and delivered the samples to the Louisiana State University Agricultural Chemistry Laboratory for inductively coupled plasma- atomic emission spectroscopy testing (ICP-AES). ICP-AES measured the amount of 20 elements in the sediment. Maps showing …

Hypertension, Genes, And Environment: Challenges For Prevention And Risk Prediction, Richard Cooper

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Inglorious Passages: Noncombat Deaths In The American Civil War, Chris Mackowski

Civil War Book Review

In 2008, Drew Gilpin Faust’s This Republic of Suffering opened the way for what some scholars have since termed a “dark turn” in Civil War scholarship. Historian Brian Matthew Jordan has argued this darker, more complex approach properly considers the war “not as an event, but as a human experience”—and, despite the remove of more than a century and a half, an experience that can once again make us viscerally uncomfortable. The latest contribution to this body of dark scholarship comes from Brian Steel Wills, Inglorious Passages: Noncombat Deaths in the American Civil War (University Press of Kansas, …

Slavery On The Periphery: The Kansas-Missouri Border In The Antebellum And Civil War Eras, Jack Trammell

Civil War Book Review

Slavery on the Borderlands Slavery has been called the original sin in American history, and there have justifiably been hundreds of studies, books, and treatments of its many nuances and intersectionalities. It continues to be in many ways the American conversation. One shortcoming in the ....

Editorial: Winter 2018, Tom Barber

Civil War Book Review

This issue military history, its tactics and its combatants, organizes our featured reviews. Benjamin F. Cooling reviews Gordon Rhea's On to Petersburg: Grant and Lee, June 4-15, 1864. Cooling finds Rhea's book important for highlighting how Grant adapted to warfare on the Union's eastern fro....

Annotations, Cwbr Editor

Civil War Book Review

No abstract provided.