The First American Frontier: Transition to Capitalism in Southern Appalachia, 1700-1860 (The Fred W. Morrison Series in Southern Studies)

Book Description

In The First American Frontier, Wilma Dunaway challenges many assumptions about the development of preindustrial Southern Appalachia's society and economy. Drawing on data from 215 counties in nine states from 1700 to 1860, she argues that capitalist exchange and production came to the region much earlier than has been previously thought. Her innovative book is the first regional history of antebellum Southern Appalachia and the first study to apply world-systems theory to the development of the American frontier.

Dunaway demonstrates that Europeans established significant trade relations with Native Americans in the southern mountains and thereby incorporated the region into the world economy as early as the seventeenth century. In addition to the much-studied fur trade, she explores various other forces of change, including government policy, absentee speculation in the region's natural resources, the emergence of towns, and the influence of local elites. Contrary to the myth of a homogeneous society composed mainly of subsistence homesteaders, Dunaway finds that many Appalachian landowners generated market surpluses by exploiting a large landless labor force, including slaves. In delineating these complexities of economy and labor in the region, Dunaway provides a perceptive critique of Appalachian exceptionalism and development.

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The First American Frontier: Transition to Capitalism in Southern Appalachia, 1700-1860. (book reviews): An article from: The Mississippi Quarterly
Michael A. Bellesiles
Manufacturer: Mississippi State University
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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ASIN: B00097T9TW
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Mississippi Quarterly, published by Mississippi State University on March 22, 1997. The length of the article is 1010 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The First American Frontier: Transition to Capitalism in Southern Appalachia, 1700-1860. (book reviews)
Author: Michael A. Bellesiles
Publication: The Mississippi Quarterly (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 1997
Publisher: Mississippi State University
Volume: v50 Issue: n2 Page: p396(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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THE FIRST AMERICAN FRONTIER: TRANSITION TO CAPITALISM IN SOUTHERN APPALACHIA, 1700-1860. The Fred W. Morrison Series in Southern Studies

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THE FIRST AMERICAN FRONTIER: TRANSITION TO CAPITALISM IN SOUTHERN APPALACHIA, 1700-1860. The Fred W. Morrison Series in Southern Studies
Wilma A. Dunaway
Manufacturer: UNC Press,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000RK8C94

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The countryside today
Ralph Wightman
Manufacturer: The Country Book Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006DCTHS

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THE COUNTRYSIDE TODAY.

Manufacturer: Country Book Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HFKBN4

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Villages Today (Countryside)
L.H. Bolwell , and C.J. Lines
Manufacturer: Hodder Wayland
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Europe | History & Historical Fiction | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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General | Ireland | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0850789354

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Herbs: As useful today as they were centuries ago.: An article from: Countryside & Small Stock Journal
Cindy Meredith
Manufacturer: Countryside Publications Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008HPDJ8
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Countryside & Small Stock Journal, published by Countryside Publications Ltd. on March 1, 2001. The length of the article is 938 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Herbs: As useful today as they were centuries ago.
Author: Cindy Meredith
Publication: Countryside & Small Stock Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2001
Publisher: Countryside Publications Ltd.
Volume: 85 Issue: 2 Page: 42

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"Tightwad" grandma happy to embrace self-sufficiency: and wishes today's youth would, too.(Country neighbors): An article from: Countryside & Small Stock Journal

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"Tightwad" grandma happy to embrace self-sufficiency: and wishes today's youth would, too.(Country neighbors): An article from: Countryside & Small Stock Journal
Delores Myers
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000GIN2DS
Release Date: 2006-06-27

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Countryside & Small Stock Journal, published by Thomson Gale on July 1, 2006. The length of the article is 633 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: "Tightwad" grandma happy to embrace self-sufficiency: and wishes today's youth would, too.(Country neighbors)
Author: Delores Myers
Publication: Countryside & Small Stock Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 90 Issue: 4 Page: 106(1)

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Today's chicken feed bills aren't chicken feed! Here are some ways to save money.: An article from: Countryside & Small Stock Journal

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Today's chicken feed bills aren't chicken feed! Here are some ways to save money.: An article from: Countryside & Small Stock Journal
Carney Hataj , and Dave Hataj
Manufacturer: Countryside Publications Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B00097JZOG
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Countryside & Small Stock Journal, published by Countryside Publications Ltd. on March 1, 1997. The length of the article is 793 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: Among the tips for deceasing feed bills for chickens is prepraing special feed, and allowing them to free range. Ground corn, poultry concentrates and meat, and bone is suggested. A 4-5 lb bird takes 15 lbs of feed. Tips on timing of feeding, use of free range, and sources for chicks, are given.

Citation Details
Title: Today's chicken feed bills aren't chicken feed! Here are some ways to save money.
Author: Carney Hataj
Publication: Countryside & Small Stock Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 1997
Publisher: Countryside Publications Ltd.
Volume: v81 Issue: n2 Page: p38(1)

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Book Description

Horizon Scientific Press titles focus on high-level microbiology and molecular biology topics. Written by internationally renowned and highly respected leaders in the field, they comprise of review manuals, practical manuals, and reference texts for research scientists, bioscience professionals and graduate students.

Publication of the complete genome sequences of several different Brucella species has provided researchers with the opportunity to take a more directed approach to study this organism's physiology, virulence, and genetic diversity. In this book highly acclaimed Brucella scientists comprehensively review all of the most important advances in the Brucella post-genomic era providing for the first time a coherent picture of Brucella molecular and cellular biology.

The book opens with chapters that focus on the development of molecular diagnostic tools followed by chapters on genetic evolution and its relationship to pathogenicity. Other topics include Brucella comparative genomics and proteomics, analysis of the structure, biosynthesis and biology of glucans and lipopolysaccharides, pathogenicity, approaches to vaccine development, bacterium-host interactions, immune response, and much more. Essential reading for everyone with an interest in Brucella and brucellosis and recommended reading for the wider body of scientists with an interest in microbial diagnostics, microbial pathogenesis, cellular microbiology and immunology, and vaccine development.

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Chemical magic;: Mystery demonstrations for science clubs, classes, and general entertainment programs
Leonard Augustine Ford
Manufacturer: T. S. Denison
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Scientific Instruments | Experiments, Instruments & Measurement | Science | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: B0006AW6M4

Book Description

From one of the architects of the new science of simplicity and complexity comes an explanation of the connections between nature at its most basic level and natural selection, archaeology, linguistics, child development, computers, and other complex adaptive systems. Nobel laureate Murray Gell-Mann offers a uniquely personal and unifying vision of the relationship between the fundamental laws of physics and the complexity and diversity of the natural world.

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The basics of information theory as relating to the science of emergent order is clearly presented.......2006-12-01

This book gives valuable information on how complex systems arise out of a simple, natural ground. Gell-Mann's theories are useful in understanding chaos theory as well as many branches of quantum physics. A description of Gell-Mann's ecological explorations and efforts to maintain the biosphere is also given. The magician and student of physics will be well rewarded for reading Gell-Mann's work. The processes of consciousness and so magical phenomena may be understood in this light.

Too tedious to finish.......2006-09-02

Mr. Gell-Mann won a Nobel Prize for his work in physics, but he will never will a Pulitzer for his writing. It's too tedious to endure.

I love reading books about physics. I tried to read this book -- twice. I wanted to like it. But both times, I got no more than a third of the way through, and couldn't force myself to read another word.

Mr. Gell-Mann's writing is too convoluted and dry, his theories so superficially presented. Unless you're a speed reader, I'd imagine there are very few people who would ever waste the time required to force themselves through this very disappointing book.

Complexity theme is contrived; superficial coverage of many subjects.......2005-10-13

Gell-Mann went to much effort to weave the diverse topics of this book together under the theme of complex adaptive systems. I found this to be a pointless endeavor. A good theme should provide cohesion or make the subject more approachable. Conceiving of both a single-celled organism and a culture as complex adaptive systems, however, provides little insight into the functioning of either and serves mostly to drive home the point that the notion of a complex adaptive system is so broad that nearly anything worth discussing falls under that heading.

Quantum physics is discussed at length. Unfortunately this section reads more like a catalog of concepts and discoveries than like a good introduction conveying key concepts. Other subjects (biology, evolution, ecosystems, computer learning, economics, public policy) are covered too superficially to yield anything of interest.

The major arguments of _The Quark and the Jaguar_ are as follows:

1) Effective complexity is not the same as algorithmic complexity. Algorithmic complexity is 0 for uniform data and highest for completely random data. (Potential) effective complexity is highest in the middle, where patterns and rules (schema) can be derived and minimal for both uniform data and random data.

2) Classical physics implies a deterministic world. How can anything interesting happen? Because quantum physics offers randomness.

3) Complex adaptive systems create schemas to model the data. This is true for the formation of life, to children learning to speak, to scientific progress, etc. Successful complex adaptive systems are solutions to problems. So the biological and cultural diversity on the planet represents a huge amount of valuable information.

4) We should preserve biological and cultural diversity so we don't lose valuable information.

What a disappointment.......2005-01-06

I might also have entitled my review, "See Carlos Camara's review of April 11, 2002." Camara captures my own thoughts to a tee. Where Gell-Mann is strongest, namely, on particle physics, his strengths shine through. Though hardly a rigorous survey of the field, the second section of Q&J is a compelling introduction to it -- and certainly whets one's appetite for further reading. The book's first section (an overview of the notion of complexity) is decent (though far better popular treatments can be found elsewhere). The book's third and fourth sections, however, are pretty much a total wash. I could tolerate them only insofar as they reflected the obvious integrity of the author. He is a political kindred spirit. That said, having purchased Q&J and had high expectations of it, I was surprised and not a little frustrated at how bereft of substance it was on matters "Jaguarian". More than a little disconnected, I found the second half of Q&J rambling, pedestrian, and even sophomoric. Certainly not what one expects of a Nobel prize winning physicist and of one of the founders of the Santa Fe institute. My respect for Gell-Mann, as a scientist and a humanist, is in no way diminished by Q&J, but I cannot help but feel that he (and his publisher) faltered with this effort. My advice: read the first half of Q&J for a cursory -- but well-written -- survey of complexity and particle physics. Skip the second half altogether.

trying very hard to make progress in "complexity" theory.......2004-10-12

The "reductionistic" scientific method, which seeks to reduce phonomena to simpler and more general underlying bludprints, has dominated the last three centuries. It works great in physics, as Newton domonstrated, but less well in other disciplines such as biology and psychology. For example, molecular biologists have isolated DNA, but have yet to adequately explain embroyonic development, protein folding and other riddles. To overcome these shortcomings, many are calling for a theory of complexity, which should focus on systems and the dynamics of development where order appears to organize itself from a bewildering number of interacting factors.

Gell-Mann argues that rather than replacing reductionist methods, complexity theory complements that approach. The quark is the simple and universal, the jaguar the complex. He suggests that between these two exists an unbroken chain.

Gell-Mann attempts to make his contribution with teh "complex adaptive system" that "acquires information about its environment" and indentifies "regularities in that information", which are then condensed into a "schema" or "model"; these latter are "non-static," and unlike a quark can evolve. Each complex adaptive system contains three strands: 1) basic rules; 2) frozen accidents; 3) a selection process. For example, language has genetically inherited cognitive capabilites with certain quirky attributes that persist and yet can change as the individual must describe new phenomena. A lot of the book is devoted to finding and explaining similar examples. It is a panoramic and entertaining excursion through human knowledge, if a bit cursory.

Gell-Mann also hopes to guide scientists into a more holistic and cross-disciplinary approaches. With its focus on historical development and links between the simple and complex, the study of complex adaptive systems, he argues, may be the spur required to stimulate such approaches, briging physics, chemistry, biology and even the social sciences. This is what he is doing at the Santa Fe Institute.

At its best, the book is a window into a great scientific mind, with fascinating mini-essays on state of the art science. Unfortunately, Gell-Mann is an uneven writer. Many passages are impenetrable to lay readers like myself. At a deeper level, he fails to critique the vague research agendas of the complexologists, who have been ridiculously popularised in such enues as Wired. Even the complex adaptive system may say too little about too much. Through it all, Gell-Mann maintains his pose as a total pedant.

REcommended. It is uneven, but this is one of the greatest thinks of the 20C.

The quark and the jaguar; adventures in the simple and the complex.

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The quark and the jaguar; adventures in the simple and the complex.
Murray. GELL-MANN
Manufacturer: W. H. Freeman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OR9E3S

QUARK AND THE JAGUAR, THE, Adventures in the Simple and the Complex

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QUARK AND THE JAGUAR, THE, Adventures in the Simple and the Complex
Murray, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics Gell-Mann
Manufacturer: W. H. Freeman & Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000VBD6AE

Customer Reviews:

pitching it low.......2006-07-03

Purchasing this book "for pleasure," I expected it to be the sort of peculiar pleasure much medieval poetry affords: a long hard slog, allusions to arcane mythological stories, an uneasy settling into a language related but treacherously ancestral to our own, some startlingly beautiful images, and a vague feeling at the end that you were leaving edified and dully strengthened, as if by oatmeal.

This edition of the Makars contains three Scottish poets: roughly the complete works of Robert Henryson (late 15th century) and William Dunbar (early 16th c) and one long poem "Palace of Honour" by Gavin Douglas (early 16th c)--in that order. Henryson caught me off guard and disarmed me completely. Much of his section contains beast-fables of the Aesop variety: standard enough medieval fare--but the morals are unexpected and at times highly tenuous, and his embellishments to the narrative line are often hilarious, from Chaunticleer's hens discussing (as the poor cock is carried off by the fox) how much they will NOT miss his feeble conjugal attentions to a wolf baptising (and thus re-naming) a goat in the ocean so that he won't break his Lenten fast: "Come up, Sir Salmon!" Ah, who can you share such moments with, nowadays? Henryson has enough social outrage in his poetry, also, for both the pious and the querulous among us.

Dunbar is--well, there's no other words for it, "God's plenty" as Dryden said of Chaucer. He writes poetry begging the king for money, poetry making fun of people at court, poetry in the "flyting" genre of elaborate and nasty insults, poetry complaining about the ubiquity of death, allegorical and debate poetry, poetry celebrating Jesus and Mary, a mock last will-and-testament--and on and on it goes. Most of them are funny or bloodcurdling.

Only when I got to Douglas did I have to do the hard slogging, and I warn you to stick with it: the third part (when he actually gets to the palace of honour) is much better than the first three.

A note on the edition, which gives this book its four stars and not five. It's a fine edition, but it is designed for people who know virtually nothing about 1) the Bible, 2) various mythologies, and 3) slightly archaic vocabulary. We find, for instance, that "the ancient Greek poet Homer is the author of two great epic works, the Iliad and the Odyssey." If you didn't know that, then I wonder how you found your way to the non-canonical edition of the Makars. The endnotes in the back are fairly exhaustive on the aforementioned arcane mythological stories (and a few medieval customs), so that a reader gets a fairly good picture of what the poems are saying, but the notes are not in-depth enough to provide help toward interpretation. Again, the notes in the back give a short summary of each poem, some of which are helpful but which are not decisive cues for interpretation. The glosses for Scottish words are again exhaustive, almost too much so--"armony" being "harmony" is probably deducible from context, and that's one of many nit-picky examples. At times, the glosses approach interpretation themselves, so that I'm not sure, for instance, if "vissage" actually means "head" or if it means "visage" and the editor is interpreting it as likely "head" in the context. To the editor's credit, words are glossed over and over, so that if you forget the definition from page 1, here it comes again. Also, lines which contain difficult syntax are translated, not just glossed, at the bottom of the page. In short, this edition hits exactly what it aims for: an undergraduate unfamiliar with medieval literature. If I were teaching a junior-level class, I'd have to order this as a textbook. The notes will hold your hand to guide you, but they will not kiss you with insight.

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