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American Studies Commons™

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Liberty University

2014

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in American Studies

Streams In The Wilderness, Miranda Beale Dec 2014

Streams In The Wilderness, Miranda Beale

The Kabod

Miranda Beale analyzes two award-winning novels by Marilynne Robinson, Gilead (2004) and Home (2008), identifying their major themes as the necessity of balancing parental responsibility and God's loving guidance and redemptive power in raising children.

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The Heartland Of The Democracy: Presidential Politics In Oley Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, 1860-64, Benjamin Petersheim May 2014

The Heartland Of The Democracy: Presidential Politics In Oley Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, 1860-64, Benjamin Petersheim

Masters Theses

Oley Township, founded in 1740, in Berks County, Pennsylvania holds a special place in the commonwealth's history because of its unique religious, political, and cultural history. With hundreds of historic buildings and its Pennsylvania German heritage, the heart of the Oley Valley continues to attract colonial and Pennsylvania German historians from great distances so that they are able to analyze and research its rich heritage. Indeed, the area was designated as a National Historic District by the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 and much of the farmland has been preserved through land trusts and historical preservation efforts. Many …

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Divine Economy: George Rapp, The Harmony Society, And Jacksonian Democracy, James Tomney May 2014

Divine Economy: George Rapp, The Harmony Society, And Jacksonian Democracy, James Tomney

Masters Theses

Divine Economy: George Rapp, the Harmony Society, and Jacksonian Democracy is a chronological exploration of the sucesses achieved, conflicts encountered, and eventual demise of George Rapp's Harmony Society. During its one-hundred year existence as it awaited the Second Coming of Christ, three successful agricultural and manufacturing towns were created by the Society out of the wilderness. Also explored is the impact Jacksonian Democracy had on George Rapp's Harmony Society during the 1824 to 1847 period, as is the contribution the Society made to American industrialization after George Rapp's death in 1847.

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Gaines's Preachers And Their People: Personalism, Community, And Social Action In A Lesson Before Dying, In My Father's House, And A Gathering Of Old Men, Brooke Light May 2014

Gaines's Preachers And Their People: Personalism, Community, And Social Action In A Lesson Before Dying, In My Father's House, And A Gathering Of Old Men, Brooke Light

Masters Theses

Personalist theology, along with Ernest J. Gaines's fiction, resists the idea of isolation and instead highlights the importance of the communal good, criticizing social and religious institutions that fail to uphold the value of human dignity and community. In "Personalism and Traditional Afrikan Thought," Burrow argues that "the church exists for the person and not the other way around" (347) and that churches should be judged and evaluated on the extent to which they meet the needs of the community. Representing their churches, the preachers in three of Gaines's novels (A Lesson Before Dying, In My Father's House, and A …

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Hippie Caulfield: The Catcher In The Rye's Influence On 1960s American Counterculture, Richard Neffinger Apr 2014

Hippie Caulfield: The Catcher In The Rye's Influence On 1960s American Counterculture, Richard Neffinger

Masters Theses

This study covers the influence of The Catcher in the Rye on the 1960s youth counterculture in America. Drawing heavily from postmodern and new historicist theory, The Catcher in the Rye has developed a unique connection with the American public, most notably youth culture. This study examines why youth are so attracted to the character of Holden Caulfield and what implications their connection has meant and will mean for future generations of young Americans.

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Saving Jazz: Applied Ethnomusicology And America's Classical Music, Christopher Long Apr 2014

Saving Jazz: Applied Ethnomusicology And America's Classical Music, Christopher Long

Masters Theses

In his 2009 article, Can Jazz Be Saved?, Wall Street Journal columnist Terry Teachout asserted that the American audience for jazz music performances was both shrinking and aging. Saving Jazz: Applied Ethnomusicology and America's Classical Music explores this jazz audience problem and finds that over the last thirty years the overall American audience for live jazz performances has not shrunk as has been widely reported, but is essentially unchanged in size. During that same period, though, there is no question that the median age of the audience has changed dramatically. Data collected by the National Endowment for the Arts and …

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Never Give A Sword To A Man Who Can't Dance, Colin Slade Jan 2014

Never Give A Sword To A Man Who Can't Dance, Colin Slade

Masters Theses

War dances have long been a powerful means of preparing warriors for combat or the intimidation of an enemy, but they are also used in the ceremonial supplication of deity or celebration of victory. They are a fundamental artifact of many cultures throughout the world. Nevertheless, the United States of America boasts the most powerful military in history, yet it lacks a war dance. This is valid until one accepts a simple truth; military drill is a dance. However, Americans would object to such a proposition even though they have adopted and adapted military drill as their own, describe it …

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