History Commons^™

The Seven Spices: Pumpkins, Puritans, And Pathogens In Colonial New England, Michael Sharbaugh

Michael D Sharbaugh

Water sources in the United States' New England region are laden with arsenic. Particularly during North America's colonial period--prior to modern filtration processes--arsenic would make it into the colonists' drinking water. In this article, which evokes the biocultural evolution paradigm, it is argued that colonists offset health risks from the contaminant (arsenic poisoning) by ingesting copious amounts of seven spices--cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, allspice, vanilla, and ginger. The inclusion of these spices in fall and winter recipes that hail from New England would therefore explain why many Americans associate them not only with the region, but with Thanksgiving and Christmas, …

Wiki Leaks Revelations In Global Context—The War Between ‘Right To Publish’ And ‘Ethical Code Of Conduct, Ratnesh Dwivedi Mr

Ratnesh Dwivedi

WikiLeaks is an international non-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation claimed a database of more than 1.2 million documents within a year of its launch. WikiLeaks describes its founders as a mix of Chinese dissidents, journalists, mathematicians, and start-up company technologists from the United States, Taiwan, Europe, Australia, and South Africa. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its director. The site was originally launched as a user-editable wiki, but has progressively moved towards …

A Critical Study Of Organizational Communication And Organizational Communication Theories- A Historical Perspective, Ratnesh Dwivedi Mr

Ratnesh Dwivedi

Organizational Communication is the study that looks at human communication within and outside the organization. Conrad and Poole (1998) break the definition of organizational communication in parts, by first defining communication and then analyses the organization. These researchers define communication as “a process through which people, acting together, create, sustain, and manage meanings through the use of verbal and nonverbal signs and symbols within a particular context” (Conrad and Poole, 1998, p. 5). In the context of this book, Kenyans and their leaders are communicating their views and final decision through the ballot box to elect their third president, during …

Digitizing Immigrant And Homeland Letters: Problems And Opportunities, Dominic Pacyga

Dominic Pacyga

No abstract provided.

Public Accountability And Media : Its Success And Failure In Performing The Role As A Force For Public Accountability, Ratnesh Dwivedi Mr

Ratnesh Dwivedi

Media accountability is a phrase that refers to the general (especially western) belief that mass media has to be accountable in the public’s interest - that is, they are expected to behave in certain ways that contribute to the public good. The concept is not clearly defined, and often collides with commercial interests of media owners; legal issues, such as the constitutional right to the freedom of the press in the U.S.; and governmental concerns about public security and order. Several international organizations, like International Freedom of Expression Exchange, Freedom House, International Press Institute, World Press Freedom Committee and the …

Book Session: The American Urban Reader: History And Theory, Steven Corey

Steven H. Corey

No abstract provided.

California History: Expanding The Narrative Of The First Californians, Cynthia Taylor

Cynthia Taylor

Review Of Michael Rawson, Eden On The Charles: The Making Of Boston, Steven Corey

Steven H. Corey

No abstract provided.

The Penetration Of Social Media In Governance,Political Reforms And Building Public Perception, Ratnesh Dwivedi Mr

Ratnesh Dwivedi

Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable communication techniques. Social media is the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue. While we know that social media can play an important role in publicizing political activities such as protests, do we have evidence that such actions have led to substantive political change? Is it possible to develop a set of indicators to more effectively gauge the impact of new technologies and media on questions of political change? That social media can help coordinate large and discrete activities, such as protests and …

Two Faces Of Media While Covering Human Right Activities In India, Ratnesh Dwivedi Mr

Ratnesh Dwivedi

The situation of human rights in India is a complex one, as a result of the country's large size and tremendous diversity, its status as a developing country and a sovereign, secular, democratic republic, and its history as a former colonial territory. The Constitution of India provides for Fundamental rights, which include freedom of religion. Clauses also provide for Freedom of Speech, as well as separation of executive and judiciary and freedom of movement within the country and abroad. In its report on human rights in India during 2010, Human Rights Watch stated India had "significant human rights problems". They …

Chicago: A Biography, Dominic Pacyga

Dominic Pacyga

Chicago has been called by many names. Nelson Algren declared it a “City on the Make.” Carl Sandburg dubbed it the “City of Big Shoulders.” Upton Sinclair christened it “The Jungle,” while New Yorkers, naturally, pronounced it “the Second City.”

At last there is a book for all of us, whatever we choose to call Chicago. In this magisterial biography, historian Dominic Pacyga traces the storied past of his hometown, from the explorations of Joliet and Marquette in 1673 to the new wave of urban pioneers today. The city’s great industrialists, reformers, and politicians—and, indeed, the many not-so-great and downright …

Language Discourse- A Critical Analysis Of Michel Focault's Work On Language Discourse With Special Reference To His Masterpiece "The Archeology Of Knowledge", Ratnesh Dwivedi Mr

Ratnesh Dwivedi

Discourse generally refers to "written or spoken communication or debate". The following are three more specific definitions: (1) In semantics and discourse analysis: A generalization of the concept of conversation to all modalities and contexts. (2) "The totality of codified linguistic usages attached to a given type of social practice. (E.g.: legal discourse, medical discourse, religious discourse.)" (3) In the work of Michel Foucault, and social theorists inspired by him: "an entity of sequences of signs in that they are enouncements (enoncés)" (Foucault 1969: 141). An enouncement (often translated as "statement") is not a unity of signs, but an abstract …

Challenges Before Traditional Media In The Age Of Digital Media-How To Integrate It With Digital Media-The Way Ahead, Ratnesh Dwivedi Mr

Ratnesh Dwivedi

You may have heard of digital media, but you may have no idea what it is and how it can help you out when it comes to marketing. It's definitely important that you get up to speed so you can use this to benefit your business. Basically digital media refers to any type of electronic media out there. Today media can be accessed in many ways, including with hand held devices like mobile phones, laptops, desktops, mp3 players, and more.Digital media must be stored in an electronic way, so there is a lot of digital content on the internet today, …

Putting History Teaching 'In Its Place', Keith A. Erekson

Keith A Erekson

Recent literature on history teaching has emphasized "doing history"—whether as "active learning," "historical thinking," or reading photocopies of primary sources. This paper extends the discussion of a "signature pedagogy" of history teaching and learning to include attention to the places where historians do history--in the archives and at the presenter's podium. It presents a case study of effective teaching from the 1920s and 1930s and provides recommendations for helping students to research in nearby archives (such as the home) and present their findings to public audiences.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words - Nixon's Effect On School Desegregation, Demetri L. Morgan

Demetri L. Morgan, Ph.D.

A review of Preisdent Richard Nixon’s deeds rather than his rhetoric or policy stances, illuminates a previously under investigated reality that Nixon’s education civil rights record has been the most progressive and beneficial for the education of students of color to date. How can this be? As this presentation will outline, Nixon’s rhetoric and stances on education were symbolic measures to appease both the ‘silent majority’ and conservative southern democrats, which Nixon identified as vital to his election aspirations in the 1968 presidential campaign. This political ploy eventually collided with Nixon’s efforts to acquiesce to his campaign mantra and governing …

Mountain Men And The Fur Trade In Idaho, Barton Barbour

Barton H. Barbour

No abstract provided.

Responding To The Second Ghetto: Chicago's Joe Smith And Sin Corner, Dominic Pacyga

Dominic Pacyga

World War Two and its aftermath transformed Chicago's African American community. The Great Migration entered a second and more intense phase as black migrants flooded into Northern cities. This massive relocation of Southern blacks resulted in the expansion and reformulation of Chicago's ghettoes on both the West and South Sides of the city. The question of a response to this Second Ghetto from African Americans themselves presents itself. White politicians, cultural elites and businessmen still controlled the city and could impose their will on its neighborhoods simply redrawing ghetto boundaries to reflect the new realities of the postwar era. The …

Caught In The Middle: Navigating The Clergy-Laity Gap During The Vietnam War, Jill Gill

Jill K. Gill

Executives within many mainline denominations, such as the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, were frustrated by their inability to inspire widespread debate and action at the congregational level about the Vietnam War Using the UPCUSA as a case study, this article argues that parish clergy functioned as the primary bottlenecks between the denominations and the congregations, constricting the flow of information largely because of their uncomfortable, precarious, middle position between liberal leadership and more conservative laity. By ming clergy journals and citing pastors in their own words, this essay illustrates the ambivalence local ministers felt toward …

Examining America’S Urban Landscape: From Social Reform To Social History, Steven Corey, Lisa Boehm

Steven H. Corey

The American Urban Reader brings together the most exciting work on the evolution of the American city, from colonial settlement and western expansion to post-industrial cities and the growth of the suburbs. Each of the chronologically and thematically organized chapters includes thoughtfully selected scholarly essays from historians, social scientists and journalists, which are supplemented by relevant primary documents that offer more nuanced perspectives and convey the diversity and interdisciplinary nature of the study of the urban condition. A comprehensive companion website offers valuable further reading, compelling supplementary links, slideshows of additional images, and a dialogue opening blog written by one …

The House That "Equality" Built: The Asian American Movement And The Legacy Of Community Action, Karen Tani

Karen M Tani

"President Lyndon Baines Johnson liked to quote the prophet Isaiah. 'Come, let us reason together,' Johnson sometimes said (assuming the voice of God) as he prepared to exercise his famous powers of persuasion. But Johnson was no literalist. Jesus told his disciples that the poor would be 'with you always.' Johnson and the other architects of the Great Society disagreed. Convinced that privation had no place in modern America, they confidently launched the concatenation of federal initiatives known as the War on Poverty. That war is now over; the poor, as predicted, remain. Yet the battle mattered--not because it was …

The Irish American Family, Patricia Fanning

Patricia J. Fanning

No abstract provided.

Visions Of A Better World: Howard Thurman's Pilgrimage To India And The Origins Of African American Nonviolence, Quinton Dixie, Peter Eisenstadt

Quinton H Dixie

No abstract provided.

Operation Jedburgh: Creation Of Operation Jedburgh And The Jedburgh Team’S Efforts During D-Day, Olivia Blessing

Olivia L Blessing

Creation of Operation Jedburgh and the Jedburgh Team’s Efforts during D-Day The German invasion of France sparked a new type of war for Europe—one focused on covert operations and guerilla warfare. The French Resistance led the way in this new style of fighting, and the United States quickly offered its assistance to the partisan groups through the efforts of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). The resulting cooperation effort, named Operation Jedburgh, and the teams involved, containing numerous OSS officers, played a very important role in the efforts to free France before, during, and after D-Day.

Dishonest Abe Scholarship: The Lincoln Biography Plagiarism Scandal, Robert Bray, Michael Burlingame

Robert Bray

'Dishonest Abe Scholarship' is a narrative/analytical account of the controversy surrounding charges of plagiarism in Stephen B. Oates' biography of Abraham Lincoln, 'With Malice Toward None.' It is written by (and of course from the point of view of) two of the scholars who first made the case against Oates, Robert Bray and Michael Burlingame.

Institutional Functional Analysis At Northern Michigan University: A New Process Of Appraisal And Arrangement Of Archival Records, Marcus Robyns

Marcus C. Robyns CA

This article argues in favor of institutional functional analysis as an effective tool for appraisal of institutional archival records.

More Than Just A Prize: The Civil War And The West, Adam Arenson

Adam Arenson

How to unify the insights of the history of the Civil War Era and the study of the American West.

How Research Blogging Improves Urban History, Adam Arenson

Adam Arenson

This article explains why researchers should maintain a research blog for a project in development, especially if it is an urban-history or preservation issue.