Prince Rivers is one of the most consequential Americans about whom Americans know nothing. Born enslaved near Beaufort, South Carolina, Rivers’s flight to freedom on horseback in November 1861 became legendary during his lifetime. One of the first Black men in Union uniform and one of the longest-serving men in the Union army, Rivers was integral to the formation of the United States Colored Troops. He astounded his own officers with his speed, strength, stamina, and impeccable manners. "...

These letters chronicle the wartime courtship of a Confederate soldier and the woman he loved—a sister-in-law of Abraham Lincoln. It is a relative rarity for the correspondence of both writers in Civil War letter collections to survive, as they have here. Rarer still is how frequently and faithfully the two wrote, given how little they truly knew each other at the start of their exchange. As a romantic pair, Nathaniel Dawson and Elodie Todd had no earlier history; they had barely met when ...

The global doubling of human life expectancy between 1850 and 1950 is arguably one of the most consequential developments in human history, undergirding massive improvements in human life and lifestyles. In 1850, Americans died at an average age of 30. Today, the average is almost 80. This story is typically told as a series of medical breakthroughs—Jenner and vaccination, Lister and antisepsis, Snow and germ theory, Fleming and penicillin—but the lion’s share of the credit belongs to the ...

A rogue, a megalomaniac, a plodder, and a depressive: the men whose previously unpublished diaries are collected in this volume were four very different characters. But they had much in common too. All were from the Deep South. All were young, between seventeen and twenty-five. All had a connection to cotton and slaves. Most obviously, all were diarists, enduring night upon night of cramped hands and candle bugs to write out their lives.Down the furrows of their fathers' farms, thr...

A SHORT COURSE IN BUSINESS STRATEGY BASICS.7 Lessons in Strategy is a quick course in acquiring vital strategic thinking skills giving you everything you need to know in just seven short chapters. From unpacking the myths of strategy and exploring the varying meanings people put to the word, to a closer examination of internal strategy, marketing strategy, brand strategy and competitive strategy, you'll explore failures and successes and build a platform fo...

Community is an evolving and complex concept that historians have applied to localities, counties, and the South as a whole in order to ground larger issues in the day-to-day lives of all segments of society. These social networks sometimes unite and sometimes divide people, they can mirror or transcend political boundaries, and they may exist solely within the cultures of like-minded people.This volume explores the nature of southern communities during the long nineteenth century....

Strategic thinking just got easierFor most aspiring managers, at some point in their careers, their Personal Development Plans will include the demand to have 'greater strategic thinking ability'. We have the perception that executives operating at board-level have this 'strategic thinking ability' but seldom find the route to obtain it for ourselves. The purpose of this book is to provide that route.Strategy, like any other discipline, can be learned and pr...

The ability to develop and implement a successful strategy is crucial to anyone who wants to advance their career. Written by Stephen Berry, a leading expert on strategy as both a coach and a practitioner, this book quickly teaches you the insider secrets you need to know to in order to build a winning strategy. The highly motivational 'in a week' structure of the book provides seven straightforward chapters explaining the key points, and at the end there are optional questions to ensure y...

This series provides the chemical physics field with a forum for critical, authoritative evaluations of advances in every area of the discipline. Volume 145 in the series continues to report recent advances with significant, up-to-date chapters by internationally recognized researchers.

A short and entertaining introduction to thermodynamics that uses real-world examples to explain accessibly an important but subtle scientific theoryA romantic description of the second law of thermodynamics is that the universe becomes increasingly disordered. But what does that actually mean? Starting with an overview of the three laws of thermodynamics, MacArthur “genius grant" winner R. Stephen Berry explains in this short book the fundamentals of a fundamental...

Household War restores the centrality of households to the American Civil War. The essays in the volume complicate the standard distinctions between battlefront and homefront, soldier and civilian, and men and women. From this vantage point, they look at the interplay of family and politics, studying the ways in which the Civil War shaped and was shaped by the American household. They explore how households influenced Confederate and Union military strategy, the motivations of sol...

“It is well that war is so terrible,” Robert E. Lee reportedly said, “or we would grow too fond of it.” The essays collected here make the case that we have grown too fond of it, and therefore we must make the war terrible again. Taking a “freakonomics” approach to Civil War studies, each contributor uses a seemingly unusual story, incident, or phenomenon to cast new light on the nature of the war itself. Collectively the essays remind us that war is always about damage, even at i...