In the style of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, Professor L. Alex Swan's Cornelia's Struggle is a non-fiction novel about social justice. This work is the story of a young couple separated and reunited in the American justice system.

The Materiality of Religion in Early Modern English Drama is the first book to present a detailed examination of early modern theatrical properties informed by the complexity of post-Reformation religious practice. Although English Protestant reformers set out to destroy all vestiges of Catholic idolatry, public theater companies frequently used stage properties to draw attention to the remnants of traditional religion as well as the persistent materiality of post-Reformation worship. The Materiality of Religion in Early Modern English Drama explores the relationship between popular culture and theatrical performance by considering the social history and dramatic function of these properties, addressing their role as objects of devotion, idolatry, and remembrance on the professional stage. Rather than being aligned with identifiably Catholic or Protestant values, the author reveals how religious stage properties functioned as fulcrums around which more subtle debates about the status of Christian worship played out. Given the relative lack of existing documentation on stage properties, The Materiality of Religion in Early Modern English Drama employs a wide range of source materials-including inventories published in the Records of Early English Drama (REED) volumes-to account for the material presence of these objects on the public stage. By combining historical research on popular religion with detailed readings of the scripts themselves, the book fills a gap in our knowledge about the physical qualities of the stage properties used in early modern productions. Tracing the theater's appropriation of highly charged religious properties, The Materiality of Religion in Early Modern English Drama provides a new framework for understanding the canonization of early modern plays, especially those of Shakespeare.

Focusing on the life of ambitious former slave Conway Barbour, Victoria L. Harrison argues that the idea of a black middle class traced its origins to the free black population of the mid-nineteenth century and developed alongside the idea of a white middle class. Although slavery and racism meant that the definition of middle class was not identical for white people and free people of color, they shared similar desires for advancement. Born a slave in western Virginia about 1815, Barbour was a free man by the late 1840s. His adventurous life took him through Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky; Cleveland, Ohio; Alton, Illinois; and Little Rock and Lake Village, Arkansas. In search of upward mobility, he worked as a steamboat steward, tried his hand at several commercial ventures, and entered politics. He sought, but was denied, a Civil War military appointment that would have provided financial stability. Blessed with intelligence, competence, and energy, Barbour was quick to identify opportunities as they appeared in personal relationships—he was simultaneously married to two women—business, and politics. Despite an unconventional life, Barbour found in each place he lived that he was one of many free black people who fought to better themselves alongside their white countrymen. Harrison’s argument about black class formation reframes the customary narrative of downtrodden free African Americans in the mid-nineteenth century and engages current discussions of black inclusion, the concept of “otherness,” and the breaking down of societal barriers. Demonstrating that careful research can reveal the stories of people who have been invisible to history, Fight Like a Tiger complicates our understanding of the intersection of race and class in the Civil War era.

Accounting for Affection examines the multifaceted nature of early modern motherhood by focusing on the ideas and strategies of Roman aristocratic mothers during familial conflict. Illuminating new approaches to the maternal and the familial employed by such women, it demonstrates how interventions gained increasing favor in early modern Rome.

Cornelia Sorabji (1866-1954) was the first woman lawyer of India whose formative years coincided with the high noon of the British Empire. She occupies a significant place in Indian history, as she played a pioneering role in trying to open up the legal profession to women much before they were formally allowed to plead before the courts of law. This detailed biography uses rich and hitherto unused data to illustrate a remarkable individual, who has remained neglected in the historiography of modern India. Sorabji's opposition to Indian nationalism in the Gandhian era led to a disapproval of her role and personality. Yet this Parsee and the daughter of a convert to Christianity was the first woman to study law at Oxford, the first Indian woman to be allowed to practise in the Calcutta High Court, became the first woman to be appointed to a senior bureaucratic office under the colonial government, and the first person to champion the cause of Indian women in purdah who owned property. Sorabji's life is has been shown as reflecting the dilemmas of a colonial subject who, in trying to negotiate her dual subjectivity to colonialism and patriarchy, was left with very little neutral space to operate upon. This book relates Sorabji's life to the complexities of gender issues in colonial India, and will be of equal interest to general and specialist readers.

Howland's inspirational story begins in Cayuga County before the Civil War when her Quaker father is involved in the underground railway. During thc war, Miss Emily, encouraged by Mrs. William Seward family goes to Washington, D.C. to teach the freed slaves in government camps so that they might find employment and new lives. And there she begins a lifelong romance with a dashing colonel, Charles Folsom of Boston. He is supportive of her teach, but can't her passion for bringing voting fights to women. Their relationship through the years is warm, perhaps romantic, and somewhat mysterious. Back in Sherwood after the Civil War, Miss Emily continues working for the fights of women. Her efforts, along with those of her friends, Susan B. Anthony and Harriet Tubman, are legendary. Howland's disappointments and triumphs are part of the fabric of the history of the Central New York and the nation.

Madness Triumphant: A Reading of Lucan’s Pharsalia offers the most detailed and comprehensive analysis of Lucan’s epic poem of the civil war between Caesar and Pompey to have appeared in English. In the manner of his previous books on Virgil and Ovid, Professor Fratantuono considers the Pharsalia as an epic investigation of the nature of fury and madness in Rome, this time during the increasing insanity of Nero’s reign.

Cornelia Connelly, née Cornelia Augusta Peacock, (born Jan. 15, 1809, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.--died April 18, 1879, St. Leonards, Sussex, Eng.), Roman Catholic abbess who founded the Society of the Holy Child Jesus and became the subject of an acrimonious ecclesiastical controversy.

Praise for UPTON SINCLAIR and the other American Century "I look forward to all of Kevin Mattson's works of history and I've notbeen disappointed yet. Upton Sinclair is a thoughtful, well-researched, and extremely eloquently told excavation of the history of theAmerican left and, indeed, the American nation, as well as a testamentto the power of one man to influence his times. Well done." --Eric Alterman, author of When Presidents Lie: A History of Official Deception and Its Consequences "A splendid read. It reminds you that real heroes once dwelt among us. Mattson not only captures Sinclair's character, but the world he inhabited, with deft strokes whose energy and passion easily match his subject's." --Richard Parker, author of John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics "From the meat-packing houses of Chicago to the automobile factories of Detroit to the voting booths of California, Upton Sinclair cut a wide swath as a muckraking writer who exposed the injustices rendered by American industrial capitalism. Now Kevin Mattson presents a much-needed exploration of this complex crusader. This is a thoughtful, provocative, and gripping account of an important figure who appeared equal parts intellectual, propagandist, and political combatant as he struggled to illuminate the 'other American century' inhabited by the poor and powerless." --Steven Watts, author of The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century