Böcker utgivna av Kent State University Press

When did textile printing originate, and how can we identify the fabrics, inks, dyes, and printing processes used on surviving historical examples? In Wearable Prints, 1760-1860, Susan Greene surveys the history of wearable printed fabrics, which reaches back into the earliest days of the discovery of the delights of selectively patterned cloth and is firmly interwoven with the Industrial Revolution.

Reassessing the motivations and contribution of Union soldiers come late to the war For more than a century, historians have disparaged the men who joined the Union army in the later days of the Civil War--when higher bounty payments and the conditional draft were in effect--as unpatriotic mercenaries who made poor soldiers and contributed little to the Union victory. However, as Edwin P. Rutan II explains, historians have relied on the accounts of 1861 and 1862 veterans who resented these new recruits who had not yet suffered the hardships of war, and they were jealous of the higher bounties those recruits received. The result, he argues, is a long-standing mischaracterization of the service of 750,000 Union soldiers. High-Bounty Men in the Army of the Potomac offers a much-needed correction to the historical record, providing a more balanced assessment of the "high-bounty" replacements in the Army of the Potomac. Rutan argues, using combat-effectiveness methodology, that they were generally competent soldiers and indispensable in defeating the Army of Northern Virginia. He also examines the issue of financial motivation, concluding that the volunteers of 1862 may have been more driven by economic incentives than once thought, and 1864 recruits were less driven by this than typically described. Thus, Rutan concludes that the Union "high-bounty" men do not deserve the scorn heaped on them by early volunteers and subsequent generations of historians.

Cold-blooded murderer or loving father driven insane? In early 1900s Indiana, John Terrell was the wealthiest man in Wells County, thanks to oil discovered on his farm. But when his youngest daughter, Lucy, became pregnant and entered into a forced marriage to abusive Melvin Wolfe, Terrell's life and fortune unraveled in a tumultuous spiral of murder, a dramatic trial, and a descent into madness. Wolfe's abuse of Lucy eventually drove her back to her parents' home. His continued harassment of the entire family became too much for John Terrell. He shot Wolfe in a roadside ambush, followed the wounded man to the doctor, broke into the operating room, and put a shotgun to the injured man's head before pulling the trigger. The murder made sensational headlines across the country. Terrell, a polarizing figure in the community due to his wealth and atheism, went on trial and faced the death penalty. His lawyer presented an insanity defense; over 150 witnesses testified, including a dozen high-paid experts for the defense. Yet Terrell was convicted in just 15 minutes. While awaiting sentence, his mental condition rapidly deteriorated; transferred to an asylum, he was ultimately proclaimed "insane." Until his death, the fierce debate raged: Had Terrell truly lost his mind? Or did he simply scam his way out of prison?

The story of LeBron James through the eyes of a Cleveland sports insider LeBron James has been a polarizing yet beloved figure for sports fans around the world, possibly nowhere more so than in northeast Ohio, where he grew up. He began his basketball career hailed as "the chosen one," a beacon of hope for a Cleveland team that had never won an NBA championship. He was then denounced for "the Decision" to leave and pursue his trophy dreams with the Miami Heat. The prodigal son subsequently returned to the Cavaliers, fulfilling "the Promise" to bring ultimate victory to Cleveland in 2016. From the time James was a high school sophomore, former Cleveland Plain Dealer sports columnist Bill Livingston covered every step of his journey from a hot-headed teenager flouting league rules to a basketball icon and activist, one who even founded a school in his hometown. In this engaging new biography, Livingston intertwines research, interviews, game highlights, and his firsthand experience with James and Ohio sports. Livingston's perspective and incisive wit give a unique view not only into James's evolving motivations, philosophies, and relationships but also to the characters and actions that have defined the Ohio chapters of his career. This book is not only for fans of LeBron; it is for anyone seeking to understand his very personal relationship with northeast Ohio: what he means to the region and how the region shaped him.

A literary hike through Ohio's oldest national park An anthology celebrating the biodiversity and staggering beauty of Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Light Enters the Grove collects 81 poems, each of which reflects its author's unique connection to a living organism found within the park--ranging from white-tailed deer to brown bats and from Japanese honeysuckle to bloodroot. Additionally, each poem is paired with an artistic depiction of the poem's subject that reinforces the rich relationship between artists and the natural world. Editors Charles Malone, Carrie George, and Jason Harris provide a stirring introduction to this emotional journey through the park. Renowned writers featured in the volume include Kari Gunter-Seymour, poet laureate of Ohio, and Deborah Fleming, whose book Resurrection of the Wild won the 2020 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. This collection invites readers to look further into their own experiences and memories of the park, to reflect on their relationships to its species, and to recognize the importance of preserving the lives and habitats of our nonhuman neighbors.

Winner of the 2023 Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize Opium and Ambergris is the haunting debut collection by poet Colin Dekeersgieter, whose lyric poems scrutinize a family's history with addiction, death, and mental illness. Reeling from the loss of his brother to a heroin overdose, Dekeersgieter grieves while doing his best to keep his suicidal mother alive and raise his family. As a result, these poems shift between historical retellings and urgent examinations of love. In the title poem, "opium" is associated with death and "ambergris"--a substance formed in sperm whales' digestive tracts and valued by many cultures for over one thousand years--is associated with love. As family history, death, trauma, and duty become entwined with the acts of living, suffering, growing, and writing, these metaphorical categories become essentially interchangeable. Opium comes from the beautiful poppy; ambergris is an ingredient still used in high-end perfumes to help the fragrance last longer, yet it is extracted from dead whales. Thus, "opium" and "ambergris" come to represent the possible coexistence of love and loss. With many poems written in emergency departments, behavioral wards, and intensive care units, Dekeersgieter does not just honestly chronicle a family crisis but seeks to survive through poetry.

New approaches to teaching Hemingway in the context of film Though Ernest Hemingway distrusted Hollywood and often found himself in conflict with directors and producers, he frequented theaters and freely acknowledged the art and potential that cinema contained. In turn, the film industry's interest in his stories has endured for nearly a century. Focusing on the relationship between written and cinematic work, Hemingway and Film brings together diverse literary and film studies scholars to both deepen understanding of Hemingway's fiction and film adaptations and to provide practical guidance for approaching these topics in the classroom. By examining Hemingway's writing and film, we can identify rich crossovers between literary criticism, film studies, and pedagogy. Chapters explore Hemingway's stories, themes, construction, and context while interrogating the art of adaptation itself, examining what makes for successful retellings or defines fidelity to the original work. Contributors include Alice Mikal Craven, Christina Parker-Flynn, Jean Jespersen Bartholomew, Donald A. Daiker, Sean C. Hadley, Kirk Curnutt, James Plath, Timothy Penner, Suzanne del Gizzo, Tatiana Konrad, Stephen Whittaker, Scott D. Yarbrough, and the late Peter L. Hays.

Exploring neglected and misinterpreted aspects of a pivotal point in the Civil War Military operations in Fredericksburg, Virginia, were a significant part of the Chancellorsville Campaign, but they have been overshadowed by what occurred in the wilderness of Spotsylvania County, where Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson's forces overwhelmed a hapless Union army. That struggle in the woods in the spring of 1863 has been the subject of numerous studies, and its geographical setting is a prominent component of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. To demonstrate how a Union force overpowered Confederate troops in and around Fredericksburg, Erik F. Nelson emphasizes the role of terrain and reexamines contemporary documentation. Previous studies have relied on misleading primary sources that have left the campaign--and the Union's eventual larger victory--misunderstood. Moreover, the former battlegrounds near Fredericksburg have been physically altered by new roads and neighborhoods, further complicating study and understanding. While the dramatic Confederate victory at Chancellorsville loomed large as the Southern army confidently marched into Pennsylvania, the Union army, confident and still intact, redeemed itself at Gettysburg--ultimately changing the course of the war. Nelson's thorough consideration of the physical settings at Fredericksburg, Salem Church, and Banks' Ford helps readers better understand how the Army of the Potomac had developed the capability to prevail against Lee's Army of Northern Virginia long before they emerged victorious at Gettysburg.

The importance of political moderation in preserving the Union Holding the Political Center in Illinois charts the political trajectory of Illinois from the introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 through the firing on Fort Sumter in 1861. Throughout, Iverson focuses on the significance of political moderation in this era of partisan extremes, one in which the very label of "conservative" was contested. Most often framed through the biography of Abraham Lincoln, the turbulence of antebellum-era and political realignment in Illinois has been widely misunderstood, yet the Prairie State's geographic, economic, and demographic diversity makes it an especially fascinating microcosm through which to examine the politics of self-identified conservatives leading up to the Civil War. Most politicians and voters in this period claimed to be conservative and stood opposed to radical secessionists and abolitionists. By positioning "conservatism" as a disposition rather than an ideology, Ian. T. Iverson explores how mainstream politicians in the Democratic, Republican, and Know-Nothing Parties employed a shared interpretation of American liberty, history, and institutions to court voters throughout the sectional crisis. Ultimately, this united reaction against secession, which propelled Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas to rally together behind the Union's banner in April 1861, rose from an unconditional centrist commitment to the Union--the core value defining conservatism.

Fighting Nathan Bedford Forrest in North Mississippi During the summer of 1864, a Union column commanded by Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson Smith set out from Tennessee with a goal that had proven impossible in all prior attempts--to find and defeat the cavalry under the command of Confederate major general Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest's cavalry was the greatest threat to the long supply line feeding Sherman's Union armies as they advanced on Atlanta. Joined by reinforcements led by Lt. Gen. Stephen Dill Lee, Forrest and his men were confident, and their morale had never been higher. However, for two weeks, Smith outmarched, outfought, and outmaneuvered the team of Lee and Forrest. In three days of bitter fighting, culminating in the battle at Harrisburg, the Confederates suffered a staggering defeat. Work for Giants focuses on the details of this overlooked campaign and the efforts, postbattle and postwar, to minimize the outcome and consequences of this important Union victory.

George Gordon Meade has not been treated kindly by history. Victorious at Gettysburg, the biggest battle of the American Civil War, Meade was the longest-serving commander of the Army of the Potomac, leading his army through the brutal Overland Campaign and on to the surrender of Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox. Serving alongside his new superior, Ulysses S. Grant, in the last year of the war, his role has been overshadowed by the popular Grant. This first full-length study of Meade's two-year tenure as commander of the Army of the Potomac brings him out of Grant's shadow and into focus as one of the top three Union generals of the war. John G. Selby portrays a general bestride a large army he could manage well and a treacherous political environment he neither fully understood nor cared to engage. Meade's time as commander began on a high note with the victory at Gettysburg, but when he failed to fight Lee's retreating army that July and into the fall of 1863, the political knives came out. Meade spent the winter of 1863-64 struggling to retain his job while the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War sought to have him dismissed. Meade offered to resign, but Grant told him to keep his job. Together, they managed the Overland Campaign and the initial attacks on Petersburg and Richmond in 1864. By basing his study on the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, original Meade letters, and the letters, diaries, journals, and reminiscences of contemporaries, Selby demonstrates that Meade was a much more active, thoughtful, and enterprising commander than has been assumed. This sensitive and reflective man accepted a position that was as political as it was military, despite knowing that the political dimensions of the job might ultimately destroy what he valued the most, his reputation.

As a highly visual writer, Ray Bradbury's works have frequently been adapted for film and television. One of the most stylized and haunting dramatizations is François Truffaut's 1966 film adaptation of Fahrenheit 451. For this fifth volume of The New Ray Bradbury Review, guest editor Phil Nichols brings together essays and articles that reflect upon Bradbury's classic novel and Truffaut's enduring low- tech science fiction film, fifty years after its release.French film director and writer François Truffaut was a major force in world cinema. Beginning with his first days as a firebrand film critic and early years as a highly original director, Truffaut sustained a career that brought him numerous accolades, including an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film. Yet Fahrenheit 451--his only film in English and his only foray into science fiction--is often overshadowed by the considerable triumphs of his other works, like The 400 Blows, Jules and Jim, and Day for Night. Similarly, while science fiction scholars often present the film as a significant work, they sometimes see it as a flawed adaptation, somehow less than its source, Ray Bradbury's classic 1953 novel of book-burning firemen.The articles in this volume represent the first scholarly investigation of Truffaut's film and Bradbury's novel together. They lay out the key critical issues in comparing book and film and novelist and filmmaker, discuss various aspects of Bradbury's and Truffaut's narrative strategies in creating a world where books are systematically burned, consider the film's screenplay and Bradbury's own creative reactions to Truffaut, and examine the reception of the film among various audiences and critics.The New Ray Bradbury Review and the multivolume Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury are the primary publications of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies, the major archive of Bradbury's writings located at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI).

Going behind the scenes with a veteran member of the White House press corps Steven L Herman, chief national correspondent for the nonpartisan, government-funded Voice of America (VOA), weaves together memoir and history to pull back the curtain on the inner workings of the White House press corps, giving readers a rare glimpse into the historic and current relationship between the president and the press. Herman traces the trajectory of his career as a journalist--from learning to be skeptical of government officials' statements when he worked as a novice reporter covering nuclear testing in Nevada in the 1970s to understanding the power of on-the-ground social media coverage after the Fukushima disaster in 2011 and facing the challenges of covering the Trump administration. He reflects on the experience of reporting on a president who once called journalists "enemies of the people"--and indeed, former president Trump singled out VOA, accusing the organization of being not a voice of America but rather a voice supporting Moscow's and Beijing's interests. Under questionable circumstances, top VOA executives lost their security clearances, and a dossier was prepared on Herman in an effort to remove him as White House bureau chief. With journalistic independence under threat, Herman feared not only for his career but also for "the soul of Voice of America." Throughout Behind the White House Curtain, Herman convincingly argues that public access to accurate, unbiased information is essential to a healthy and peaceful democracy, and that journalists can and should play a key role in pressing government officials to be truthful and transparent. At a time when misinformation is rampant and the need for unbiased coverage of current events is more urgent than ever, Herman reminds readers that freedom of the press is a foundational American right.

Examining the life of an early advocate of the legal rights of Black Americans In this brisk, engaging exploration of 19th-century radical reformer and abolitionist Wendell Phillips, Peter Charles Hoffer makes the case that Phillips deserves credit as the nation's first public interest lawyer, someone who led the antebellum crusade against slavery and championed First Amendment rights and equality for all Americans, including Black people and women. As a young lawyer, bored and working at a languishing practice, Phillips nonetheless believed that the law would serve as the basis for meaningful social change, including the abolishment of slavery. While many believed the US Constitution was a virtually faultless, foundational document for governance, Phillips viewed it as deeply racist, proslavery, and, therefore, in contradiction to the Declaration of Independence. Unsurprisingly, many of Phillips's ideas were viewed as controversial and unpopular at the time, even with other abolitionists. He frequently disagreed with more conservative politicians, including Abraham Lincoln. But beyond merely criticizing the Constitution, Phillips subscribed to a "democratic positivist" belief, which contends that law is the central component of a strong democracy and that law can and should be changed by the will of the people. Thus, he believed it was critical to change public opinion on issues like slavery, which in turn would help change laws that legalized the institution. Throughout his life, he used his impressive skills as an orator to raise awareness to the horrors of enslavement, appealed to Americans' consciences, and directed them to act through voting and lawmaking. Democratic positivist approaches like his have continued to be used by lawyers to influence social reforms ranging from the civil rights movement of the 1960s to advocacy for unhoused people to abolishing America's carceral state, and Hoffer persuasively argues that Phillips's influence has been long ranging and is still recognizable in contemporary America's political landscape.

Examining how a civilian organization used the Civil War to advance their religious mission Tabernacles in the Wilderness discusses the work of the United States Christian Commission (USCC), a civilian relief agency established by northern evangelical Protestants to minister to Union troops during the American Civil War. USCC workers saw in the Civil War not only a wrathful judgment from God for the sins of the nation but an unparalleled opportunity to save the souls of US citizens and perfect the nation. Thus, the workers set about proselytizing and distributing material aid to Union soldiers with undaunted and righteous zeal. Whether handing out religious literature, leading prayer meetings, preaching sermons, mending uniforms, drawing up tailored diets for sick men, or bearing witness to deathbed scenes, USCC workers improvised and enacted a holistic lived theology that emphasized the link between the body and soul. Making extensive use of previously neglected archival material--most notably the reports, diaries, and correspondence of the volunteer delegates who performed this ministry on the battlefront--Rachel Williams explores the proselytizing methods employed by the USCC, the problems encountered in their application, and the ideological and theological underpinnings of their work. Tabernacles in the Wilderness offers fascinating new insights into the role of civilians within army camps, the bureaucratization and professionalization of philanthropy during the Civil War and in the United States more broadly, and the emotional landscape and material culture of faith and worship.

How five beloved Cleveland theaters escaped the wrecking ball and inspired city-wide urban renewal Shortly after World War I ended, five new theaters were constructed in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, all within a two-block radius. The concentration of these venues, which featured movies, vaudeville, and "legitimate" theater, became known collectively as Playhouse Square. For 50 years, the State, Ohio, Hanna, Allen, and Palace theaters enjoyed varying degrees of financial success until television, suburbanization, and urban decline darkened four of their marquees by the end of the 1960s. In the 1970s, with the shuttered theaters facing demolition, groups of like-minded Clevelanders united to fight to save the Square, influencing the city's establishment to create formal plans to renovate the theaters and ensure their financial viability. Playhouse Square and the Cleveland Renaissance tells the story of how the rejuvenation of Playhouse Square became one of the main catalysts for Cleveland's larger comeback from postindustrial decline, inspiring and serving as a model for other urban renewal efforts across the city. John Vacha is the first to write a comprehensive, in-depth account of Playhouse Square's history, beginning with the Square's 1921 opening and describing how the COVID-19 pandemic once again left its theaters temporarily empty before their triumphant reopenings in 2022. Richly illustrated and featuring interviews with the central figures involved in saving the Square, Playhouse Square and the Cleveland Renaissance is a powerful story that will appeal to theater history buffs and preservationists alike--reminding readers of the significant role the performing arts serve in shaping a city's culture.

The remarkable life of a noteworthy--yet overlooked--Union general turned Reconstruction-era politician A central figure in Reconstruction-era politics, Adelbert Ames and his contributions during a significant and uncertain time in American history are the focus of Michael J. Megelsh's fascinating study. As Megelsh discusses, Ames's life took many compelling turns. Born on Maine's rocky shore in 1835, he served as a Union general during the American Civil War and was heralded as one of the young stars whose leadership was integral in helping the Union to victory. He briefly remained in the army after the conflict, stationed in Mississippi, where he entered the political arena. During his four-year tenure as a Republican US senator representing Mississippi, Ames exhibited a growing commitment to civil rights and battled for the protection of freedmen in the halls of Congress, even when it drew ire and damnation from his colleagues. In 1874, Ames was elected governor of Mississippi and tried to create a free and prosperous state rooted in protecting civil rights and promoting economic liberty. This meant challenging the growing brutality and unruliness of the white populace and a burgeoning Democratic Party. For the first time, Ames's confidence faded as his struggles intensified and political enemies sought to impeach him, culminating in a trial that captivated local and national media. This contentious battle led to Ames's resignation from office and the end of Reconstruction in Mississippi. Ames's once-promising political career, too, was over. But Ames's later years remained thrilling. He helped the townspeople of Northfield, Minnesota, defeat Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang in a gunfight during an attempted bank robbery in 1876. When the Spanish-American War began in 1898, Ames, though now in his sixties, volunteered to join the fight and served in Cuba. While Adelbert Ames has appeared in many texts as a secondary character, Megelsh's work unearths Ames's important and underappreciated contributions to a transitional time in American history and politics.