Winter 2020

As winter rolls into spring, the Editorial Staff of the Civil War Book Review is honored to provide you with an exploration of some of the most important Civil War scholarship published in 2019. Our contributors represent nearly every field of nineteenth-century American history and hail from all corners of the country. May their insights offer a brief respite from the anxiety of our times but also serve as a reminder of the past’s indelible mark on the present

A Savage War: A Military History Of The Civil War

A Savage War and the Foundations of American Military Power Iis nearly a truism that the American Civil War attracts more writers and readers than any event in United States history. Amateur historians, professional scholars, veterans, social commentators, and journalists have produced some 50,0...

Summer 2020 Editorial

Once again, the Editorial Staff of the Civil War Book Review is honored to feature timely and important Civil War and Reconstruction-era scholarship for our Summer 2020 issue. This issue is shorter than usual, encompassing one feature work and interview, and thirteen book reviews. However, the gravity of scholarship and its relevance to our present crisis far exceed the lack of quantity. The content of this issue addresses a wide range of themes in Civil War scholarship. Several books survey the invaluable roles and experiences of Native peoples, immigrants, POWs, and women in shaping the war. Another prominent subject is the ideological and political battle over secession that drew inspiration from the revolutions in Europe and ultimately created the Confederate States of America. However, the dominant theme of scholarship reviewed in this issue is the politics of race and racism. The political struggles of the Civil War and Reconstruction eras, over who should and should not have access to the full rights and privileges of American citizenship, was the great crisis of that century and it remains at the heart of our current crisis

Spring 2020

As the grief of spring rolls into the outrage of summer, Americans are witnessing a cataclysm over the soul of their nation. We face a multitude of crises that stem from unresolved pathologies of America’s recent and distant past. The erosion of democratic norms and institutions, systematic racism, income inequality, poverty, and more – all with us before 2020 – have been laid bare and worsened by a pandemic and by toxic leadership at the highest levels of government. Amidst these calamities, we also face a crisis of history and historical memory. At its heart, it is a struggle over America’s historical record, who has claim to it – and, by extension, to America – and what its legacies mean for the future of the United States. Historians must continue their vital mission of uncovering, interrogating, and illuminating the whole and complex truths of our nation’s past. The historian’s task, along with sharing insights with the public, is crucial to the process of establishing and maintaining a national story for a more inclusive, diverse, and democratic America. We, the Editorial Staff of the Civil War Book Review, are honored to play a small role in that process by providing reviews of some of most important Civil War and Reconstruction-era scholarship published between 2017 and early 2020. We hope that their insights convey how the legacies of the Civil War and Reconstruction have profoundly shaped the dilemmas of our present

Demographic and psychological factors influencing academic success in a college level human anatomy course

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the influence of selected demographic and psychological characteristics on the academic achievement of students enrolled in an undergraduate human anatomy course at a research-extensive university in the Southern region of the United States. As health care in the United States becomes increasingly strained due to a decreasing ratio of health care workers, educating more students to fill this gap has become a societal issue. Human anatomy forms the foundation of all health care professions. From the molecular to the macroscopic, anatomy provides a unique and necessary perspective of the human body. This material is necessary for a base of knowledge in medical professions. Thus, the need exists for higher education to identify reasons students succeed or fail in the capstone course of human anatomy. This study’s population was defined as undergraduate students enrolled in a semester-long human anatomy course at a research-extensive university in the fall 2005 and spring 2006 semesters. Data were collected using three researcher-designed instruments based on the literature and course documents. A significantly positive relationship was found between self-efficacy and final grades received in human anatomy. Using regression analysis, college grade point average and self-efficacy were found to account for 7.2% of the variance in final grades of the students in human anatomy. The researcher concluded that self-efficacy can be used as a predictor of final grades in human anatomy. Therefore; the researcher recommended further research to measure levels of self-efficacy at intervals throughout a semester. By doing so, students whose self-efficacy is low can be identified and interventions implemented to aid student success. Interventions recommended were peer tutoring, smaller class size, academic support from the university, and more interaction between students and faculty. Additional recommendations were for higher education administration, educators, and enrollment managers to collectively find ways to help dispel some of the academic angst in future students

For Liberty and the Republic: The American Citizen as Soldier, 1775-1861

Citizen-Soldiers and the Limits of Republicanism Ricardo A. Herrera has endeavored to answer an important question about war and early American society: how did citizens value their military service? Herrera is Associate Professor of Advanced Military Studies at the U.S. Army Command and G...

A Circle Form\u27d of Friends: Candor, Contentiousness, and the Democratic Clubs of the Early Republic

From 1792 to 1794, a confluence of frightening events created an environment of profound distrust and apprehension in the United States. Anxieties over the future of the American and French republics prevailed over sentiments of friendship and Union. Moreover, inflamed language in the partisan press, rising tensions between emerging political parties, and the centralization of federal (but seemingly monarchical) power rendered the public sphere a hostile place for all but the most secretive and cunning of participants. The tense and impassioned setting posed the following questions for Americans to contemplate: who were the true friends of the Union? What constituted trustworthy information? What value do we place on human association? At this pregnant moment, a democratically inclined, imaginative, and ambitious segment of the American population provided answers. Candor served, in part, as a protective shield from the grave uncertainties of the era. Yet, as a form of political expression, candor empowered non-elites, and was thus never far removed from the contentiousness of the 1790s. Middle and working-class men and women professed candor to express themselves publically in ways that would justify and safeguard their inclusion into the political conversation over the republic’s future. Further, by appealing to sympathy and friendship through literary demonstrations of candor, these same individuals disrupted traditional, hierarchal relationships. At various levels of social interaction, but especially within political clubs, a new class of citizen was taking shape, one that espoused a more inclusive understanding of public engagement and an expansive meaning of democracy

The College Participation of the 1982 Undergraduate Cohort in Louisiana Public Higher Education: A Longitudinal Analysis.

This study examined the six-year college participation of students entering Louisiana public undergraduate higher education in Fall 1982. Motivation for the study stemmed from several educational conditions in Louisiana: a lower graduation rate than that of the nation, disparities in the graduation rates of Black students and White students, and administrative considerations for the restructuring of public higher education. The purposes of the study were: (1) to describe the population by selected characteristics and (2) to identify participation differences in enrollment, persistence, and achievement among sub-groups classified by: (a) race and gender, (b) developmental program participation, and (c) institutional types (by degrees granted and predominant race). Information for the analysis came from magnetic tape provided by the Louisiana Board of Regents. Subjects for the study were 19,855 first-time freshmen entering undergraduate institutions of Louisiana public higher education on a full-time basis in Fall 1982. Criteria for inclusion were designation as Black or White and documented Louisiana residence, gender, date of birth, and ACT composite scores. Other variables describing students included (a) enrollment status for each academic session from Fall 1982 through Spring 1988, (b) academic major at entry, (c) transfer status, (d) developmental status, (e) highest classification gained, (f) graduation status, and (g) enrollment by institutional types (two- or four-year and predominantly Black or White) at college entry. Distributions and regression procedures facilitated statistical analysis. The study documented (a) predictors of persistence and graduation (in order of general contribution) to be higher ACT scores, non-transfer status, non-developmental status, entry into four-year institutions, entry into predominantly Black institutions, younger age, and female gender; (b) choices of major in mathematics/sciences, business, and education to indicate graduation more often than other majors; (c) disproportionately lower rates of participation for Black students (particularly males) than for White students; (d) higher rates of enrollment, but lower rates of persistence and graduation for developmental than non-developmental students; (e) lower rates of participation for those entering two-year colleges; and (f) lower rates of enrollment, but higher rates of persistence and graduation for (Black) students entering predominantly Black institutions

Preventing falls in the elderly

posterExercise programs have been found to reduce falls in the elderly. In a study published in 2009, only 8 weeks of exercise training 3 times/week (including calistinics, muscle power, body balance, and walking training ) decreased the incidence of falls in the elderly population by 12% (Iwamoto, et al., 2009). In only 5 weeks, a study utilizing the Nijmegen Falls Prevention Program was able to reduce the incidence of falls in the elderly by 46%. The class met twice a week and the program focused on balance and coordination movements as well as walking lessons and obstacle avoidance (Weerdesteyn, et al., 2006). The purpose of this project was to determine whether 45 minutes of chair aerobics twice a week could improve fall risk assessment scores in the elderly