New Releases by Gene A. Smith

Images of American slavery conjure up cotton plantations and African American slaves locked in bondage until the Civil War. Yet early on in the nineteenth century the state of slavery was very different, and the political vicissitudes of the young nation offered diverse possibilities to slaves. In the century''s first two decades, the nation waged war against Britain, Spain, and various Indian tribes. Slaves played a role in the military operations, and the different sides viewed them as a potential source of manpower. While surprising numbers did assist the Americans, the wars created opportunities for slaves to find freedom among the Redcoats, the Spaniards, or the Indians. Author Gene Smith draws on a decade of original research and his curatorial work at the Fort Worth Museum in this fascinating and original narrative history. The way the young nation responded sealed the fate of slaves for the next half century until the Civil War. This drama sheds light on an extraordinary yet little known chapter in the dark saga of American history.

This qualitative case study, conducted in the Midwestern United States, explored the perceptions of teachers at two different elementary schools as they implemented a physical activity program during the school day. The program engaged students in daily physical activity through brief, organized, structured physical exercise. Interviews and classroom observations uncovered six primary themes. There were differences between urban-suburban schools, primary-intermediate grades, gender, teacher participation and enthusiasm, relationships to other lessons, variety in music selections, student leadership, and combining singing or chanting with physical activity. Teacher perceptions and researcher observations reported a positive impact on student motivation, school climate, attitude, self-esteem, and energy for academic tasks. Through these themes a deeper understanding of program implementation was gained, and recommendations for future implementation were created.

This study by historian Gene A. Smith not only chronicles important events in Jones''s life but also explores how those events helped shape the character and backbone of the navy during its formative years. The book describes Jones''s early career fighting smugglers, pirates, slave traders, and the British. It then evaluates his actions in the Battle of New Orleans and explains both how he carried the stars and stripes to Hawaii in the 1820s and how he helped incorporate California into the United States."--Jacket.

They were considered defensive rather than offensive craft and have become the focus of the white-water (coastal) - blue-water (seagoing) controversy as well as the navalist-antinavalist debate of the period.

Wood finds in Hamlet a series of violations of generic expectation that opens up the narrow range of revenge tragedy to the fuller scope of tragedy proper. Because Hamlet problematizes genre, we become aware of the problems generated when mythic narrative is infused with self-conscious dramatic characters. The resulting ambivalence of the generic framework makes possible the play''s generalized challenge to institutions of social order.