The American Civil War has been the subject of thousands of books and articles, but only a small fraction of this literature examines the impact of the war on society and on the lives of the participants. This volume of essays, which focuses on the North, is intended as an initial reconnaissance by social historians into the study of the Civil War. The first essay, 'Have Social Historians Lost the Civil War?' places the war in the broader context of other American wars by comparing casualty rates. The essay also examines rates of enlistment for the North and the South, and the significance of pensions for Union soldiers and their windows. Subsequent essays look at the support for the war in small towns; the influence of nineteenth-century values and culture on Union soldiers; the nature and role of large-scale relief efforts for soldiers in Philadelphia; and the impact of the war on the politics of Chicago. The final two essays discuss the continuing importance of the war for its survivors: one by looking at those who joined the major national organization of Union veterans; and the other by studying the impact of the Civil War on Union widows in three Northern towns. Taken together, the essays demonstrate the need for historians to rediscover the impact of the Civil War on nineteenth-century society.

Product Description: In an homage to David McComb’s haunting music and lyrics that inspired a generation 30 years ago, this collection of stories, poems, and artwork celebrates the man and his postpunk band, the Triffids. Due to sold-out tribute concerts across Australia and the remastering of the complete Triffids oeuvre, a new generation is discovering McComb’s work; fans old and new can delve deeper into his life and music in this intensely personal biography...read more

Product Description: If current Australian conservative opinion writers are to be believed, Australian political and cultural life continues to be infiltrated and dominated by plotting left-wing ideologues, 'Marxists', and extremists. While conservatives see themselves as representing the interests of ordinary Australians, they see the left as politically correct and self-serving elitists, intent on imposing their undemocratic views on the media, schools, universities, and other public institutions and cultural practices...read more

Product Description: Where is semiotics now? As the promised science of the social life of signs in general, semiotics has not been good to its word. Although well-established institutionally today--through specialist journals, research centres, international conferences, professional associations and the like--semiotics now seems quaintly out of place in a world where text, culture and technology defy metadisciplinary, if not metaphysical, explanation...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

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Product Description: "You couldn't use terms like 'text' in an English course without incurring the disapproval of some crusty old moralist..." "In a postmodern world, literature is just another text..." "Forget depth: think surface! ...everything is a text...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: 'There is nothing outside the text.' Possibly no single statement has caused such a storm in critical theory as this famous observation by the French philosopher, Jacques Derrida. Niall Lucy examines three key terms-text, writing and diffrance-as they are used in three famous debates: Derrida's disputes over speech-acts with John R...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)