Synopses & Reviews
This extensive and unique collection, consisting of over 180 letters and hundreds of drawings, covers Reed's period of service (1862-65) and provides the modern reader a wealth of information on the role of the Union army in the eastern theater, the events in the life of the Civil War soldier, and the war in general. A native of Boston, Reed served as bugler of the Ninth Massachusetts Battery, whose desperate holding action at Gettysburg ranks as one the most heroic actions of the war. During this battle Reed performed a deed of selfless bravery by saving his wounded captain from between the lines, an act for which he was later awarded the Medal of Honor. In addition to Gettysburg, Reed saw action in nearly all of the battles in the East from 1862 to 1865, including Bristoe Station, Mine Run, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Ana, Bethesda Church, Cold Harbor, and the siege of Petersburg.Reed's letters chronicle events, from the most common to the extraordinary, with simple yet thoughtful eloquence. His drawings capture a wide variety of events to which he was not only an eyewitness but also a participant. His talent was considered equal to that of leading newspaper artists of his day, and his drawings were used to illustrate a best-selling Civil War book, Hardtack and Coffee (1887). We are fortunate that Reed's writings and drawings have been preserved, and can be presented here in a single volume.
Review
"Masterfully bridging the gap between high culture and low, Garber's witty, accessible essays give us surprising angles on a host of topics."-Jonathan Culler, Cornell University
"A vigorous, revealing collection about the pleasures and revelations of close reading, whether it involves words, books, biographies, or ideas."-Kirkus Reviews
"There is no one writing today who can make the dizzying leaps from the lofty summits of the academy to the down-and-dirty life in the street with such wit, clarity, and originality as Marjorie Garber does. In her latest collection of essays, Loaded Words, she takes her show to the place where it began--with language itself. She reads the words of our culture in new and explosive ways and puts them back together again so that they're never quite the same."-Leonard Barkan, Princeton University
"Marjorie Garber has crafted an impressive career built upon words. Whether looking at the time-tested plays of Shakespeare or the ephemeral discourses of contemporary culture, she takes nothing about language for granted. Spirited master of both high and low, she compellingly demonstrates that the words we thought we knew are full of unexpected turns, shifts in meaning, and double dealings. This new collection of essays is at once vintage Garber and richly surprising."-Nancy J. Vickers, Bryn Mawr College
"Self-styled 'peripatetic writer,' Harvard Shakespearean, and culture critic Garber collects loosely connected but fascinating essays on a range of themes."-Publishers Weekly
Review
"Jane E. Schultz has found a treasure in Harriet Eaton s diary...This is an important source for understanding the role of women in wartime benevolent agencies. Schultz effectively highlights the tensions, challenges and excitement of state relief for the Civil War. Well constructed and argued, the book brings to the fore a fascinating source that displays the gendered relationship between women nurses and male doctors within the military medical organisation. It is a major contribution to Civil War history and an enjoyable read." --Social History of Medicine
"Jane Schultz is arguably the nation's leading expert on Civil War nursing, whose articles and book, Women at the Front, have had a profound effect on how scholars-including literary critics and historians-have viewed women's contributions to the [American] Civil War. First-person accounts of northern women nurses (and of northern women in general) during the Civil War remain rare-and so it is a pleasure to see that Schultz has produced this carefully edited and beautifully written volume documenting Harriet Eaton's nursing. This is a great discovery and a significant contribution to Civil War literature." -Alice Fahs, UC Irvine
"Jane E. Schultz's meticulous editing of Harriet Eaton's diary and newspaper correspondence provides detailed insights into the backbreaking day-to-day hospital work of a 'roving' Civil War nurse. Eaton's 'sanitary labor' immersed the pious Christian into the world of rickety ambulance wagons and filthy field hospital tents as she cared for Maine's sick and wounded volunteers. Schultz's thorough introductory essay, annotations, and biographical appendix contextualize Eaton's humanitarian/missionary efforts within contemporary New England attitudes towards gender and race. Eaton's determination and diplomatic skills enabled her to navigate the male-dominated military-medical world of her day and minister to the physical and spiritual needs of innumerable suffering soldiers. A major documentary edition and a significant contribution to Civil War medical history." -John David Smith, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
"Harriet Eaton's diary vividly brings to life the inner-workings of Civil War field and general hospitals, where army regulars, civilian relief workers, and freed slaves often came to blows about how best to care for the wounded. For eleven months and through two rigorous tours of duty Eaton made nightly journal entries that allow readers to experience the immediacy of triage work in the aftermath of Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. In This Birth Place of Souls, Jane Schultz thoroughly and ably places Eaton in the context in which she lived and worked, offering us a fascinating snapshot of one nurse's experience and a group portrait of caregivers of all stripes." -Judith Giesberg, Villanova University
"A beautifully conceived book." -- H-Net Reviews
Synopsis
In Loaded Words the inimitable literary and cultural critic Marjorie Garber invites readers to join her in a rigorous and exuberant exploration of language. What links the pieces included in this vibrant new collection is the author's contention that all words are inescapably loaded-that is, highly charged, explosive, substantial, intoxicating, fruitful, and overbrimming-and that such loading is what makes language matter. Garber casts her keen eye on terms from knowledge, belief, madness, interruption, genius, and celebrity to humanities, general education, and academia. Included here are an array of stirring essays, from the title piece, with its demonstration of the importance of language to our thinking about the world; to the superb "Mad Lib," on the concept of madness from Mad magazine to debates between Foucault and Derrida; to pieces on Shakespeare, "the most culturally loaded name of our time," and the Renaissance. With its wide range of cultural references and engaging style coupled with fresh intellectual inquiry, Loaded Words will draw in and enchant scholars, students, and general readers alike.
Synopsis
One of our most important cultural critics, at the top of her form, comments on a wide range of topics in both general and academic culture.In Loaded Words the inimitable literary and cultural critic Marjorie Garber invites readers to join her in a rigorous and exuberant exploration of language. What links the pieces included in this vibrant new collection is the author's contention that all words are inescapably loaded-that is, highly charged, explosive, substantial, intoxicating, fruitful, and overbrimming-and that such loading is what makes language matter.
Garber casts her keen eye on terms from knowledge, belief, madness, interruption, genius, and celebrity to humanities, general education, and academia. Included here are an array of stirring essays, from the title piece, with its demonstration of the importance of language to our thinking about the world; to the superb "Mad Lib," on the concept of madness from Mad magazine to debates between Foucault and Derrida; to pieces on Shakespeare, "the most culturally loaded name of our time," and the Renaissance.
With its wide range of cultural references and engaging style coupled with fresh intellectual inquiry, Loaded Words will draw in and enchant scholars, students, and general readers alike.
Synopsis
Asthma is a common chronic inflammatory condition of the airways which causes coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and tightness of the chest. Asthma attacks can be triggered by exposure to allergens, physical exertion, stress, or can be aggravated as a result of common coughs and colds. Over 5 million people in the UK and over 6% of children in the US suffer from Asthma, and a recent increase in prevalence is thought to be attributed to our modern lifestyle, such the changes in housing, diet and a more hygienic environment that have developed over the past few decades.
Asthma: The Facts is a practical guide to asthma, suitable for those who suffer from asthma, their families, and the health professionals that treat them. It details how a diagnosis of asthma is reached, and what treatments are available to successfully manage the condition and prevent attacks on a day-to-day basis. The book contains advice on proactive changes which can be made to lifestyles, such as avoiding allergens, as well as how to cope with an attack, and how to administer the relevant treatment effectively. The authors conclude that whilst there is currently no cure for asthma, by taking a proactive, self-directed approach to management, its impact on the patient and their lives can be significantly reduced.
Synopsis
After the battle of Antietam in 1862, Harriet Eaton traveled to Virginia from her home in Portland, Maine, to care for soldiers in the Army of the Potomac. Portland's Free Street Baptist Church, with liberal ties to abolition, established the Maine Camp Hospital Association and made the widowed Eaton its relief agent in the field. Doing the work of nurse and provisioner, Eaton tended wounded men and those with smallpox and diphtheria during two tours of duty. Eaton found the politics of daily toil challenging. Conflict between Eaton and coworker Isabella Fogg erupted almost immediately over issues of propriety. Though Eaton praised some of the surgeons with whom she worked, she labeled others charlatans whose neglect had deadly implications for the rank and file. If she saw villainy, she also saw opportunities to convert soldiers and developed an intense spiritual connection with a private, which appears to have led to a postwar liaison.
Published here for the first time, the uncensored nursing diary is a rarity among medical accounts of the war, showing Eaton to be an astute observer of human nature and less straight-laced than we might have thought. This edition includes an extensive introduction by the editor, transcriptions of relevant letters and newspaper articles, and a biographical dictionary of the most prominent people mentioned in the diary.
Synopsis
A vivid and affectionate portrait of a provincial town in early Victorian England, Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford describes a community dominated by its independent and refined women. This edition includes two related short pieces by Gaskell, "The Last Generation in England" and "The Cage at Cranford." Dinah Birch's introduction reflects recent revaluations of Gaskell's work and the growing recognition that Cranford is much more than the gently charming comedy that is was once taken to be. The book includes an up-to-date bibliography and expanded notes.
About the Author
Dr Arshad is known for his work on the identification of genetic and environmental risk factors for the development of asthma and early prevention of asthma in childhood. He has been an invited speaker and has chaired sessions at national and international conferences including the American Thoracic Society, European Respiratory Society, American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology, American College of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology, and European Society for Paediatric Research. He has authored/edited several books and book chapters and more than 80 original articles in peer reviewed journals.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Loaded Questions
Part I
1 Loaded Words
2 Good to Think With
3 Mad Lib
4 Third Person Interruption
5 Our Genius Problem
6 Anatomy of a Honey Trap
7 Dig It: Searching for Fame in All the Wrong Places
Part II
8 Shakespeare in Slow Motion
9 Character Flaws
10 The Marvel of Peru
11 Translating F.O. Matthiessen
12 The Shakespeare Brand
Part III
13 After the Humanities
14 The Gypsy Scholar and the Scholar Gypsy
15 Radical Numbers
16 General Education