Up From the Farm: A Global Microhistory of Rural Americans and Africans in the First World War

Were the effects of First World War truly similar globally? A comparison of how the conflict was perceived by two extremely different groups of rural people - southern Americans of the Jackson Purchase region of far western Kentucky and Africans in the small British Protectorate of Nyasaland in south central Africa - makes their microhistories significant rather than trivial by placing them a global context. In the early twentieth century, both groups were not only rural, but removed, decidedly disconnected from each other. Yet, drawing on documentary evidence, especially interviews with the last generation of First World War survivors in both regions, offers a significant perspective on how similar their experiences actually became in the crucible of a global war. The call to arms, their recruitment and resistance to service, combat adversities and cultural experiences, post-war disillusionments and triumphs, and especially the economic consequences of their war provide penetrating insights into the wide-ranging ordeals and opportunities that this first truly global event offered peoples worldwide

A Short Guide to Writing about History

A Short Guide to Writing about History is an ideal complement for any history course intended to teach students to think and write like historians. This engaging and practical text will teach students how to go beyond reporting the basic dates and facts of their history books and show them how to infuse their writing with their own ideas and unique perspective. Covering brief essays and the documented resource paper, the text explores the writing and researching processes, different modes of historical writing (including argument), and offers guidelines for improving style as well as documenting sources.https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1018/thumbnail.jp

Are governmental culture departments important? : an empirical investigation

There are many claims that the involvement of national governments with the cultural policy sector tends to err towards being undertaken reluctantly and with relatively low levels of practical support (Gray, 2009; McCall, 2009; Mulcahy, 2006; Rindzeviciute, 2008; Wyszomirski, 1999). Such a position for national governments can be explained as being a consequence of political choices to avoid accusations of state censorship or manipulation, or a lack of political significance being attached to the policy sector in comparison with such matters as the economy, foreign affairs, health, education or trade (Gray, 2002). Despite such claims, however, there is no doubt that national governments have become increasingly active in the field of cultural policy since the late-1950s/early-1960s (see, for example, Duelund, 2003 on Scandinavia; Craik, 2007 on Australia; and Looseley, 1995 on France) with the creation of new government departments with responsibility for culture, or the re-naming of existing departments to incorporate an explicit reference to 'culture' as part of their remit (see Gray, 2000 on Britain; the Finnish Ministry of Education will be re-titled the Ministry of Education and Culture in early 2010)