During World War II, the Japanese earned the reputation for cruelty toward their prisoners which surpassed the treatment accorded to POWs held by Germany and Italy. The conduct exhibited by the Japanese soldier was the result of a combination of ancient social and religious traditions made manifest by twentieth century documents. Through constant inculcation of ancient myths nurtured by a national religion, the Japanese believed that their holy mission was world domination. Believing themselves to be of divine origin, they treated all other races as inferior; therefore, the POWs suffered cruelties as sub-humans. The Japanese inflicted punishment and torture in the name of their emperor, believing that they did so through divine instruction. This study reveals how they arrived at this conviction.

This study examines the social and economic characteristics of the men who joined the Confederate Fourteenth Texas Infantry Regiment during the Civil War and provides a narrative history of the regiment's wartime service. The men of the Fourteenth Infantry enlisted in 1862 and helped to turn back the Federal Red River Campaign in April 1864. In creating a portrait of these men, the author used traditional historical sources (letters, diaries, medical records, secondary narratives) as well as statistical data from the 1860 United States census, military service records, and state tax rolls. The thesis places the heretofore unknown story of the Fourteenth Texas Infantry within the overall body of Civil War historiography.

This thesis combines a traditional narrative history of a Confederate artillery battery with a socio-economic study of its members. A database was constructed using the Compiled Service Records, 1860 census, and county tax rolls. The information revealed similarities between the unit's members and their home area. Captain James M. Daniel organized the battery in Paris, Texas and it entered Confederate service in January 1862. The battery served in Walker's Texas Division. It was part of a reserve force at the Battle of Milliken's Bend and was involved in the battles of Bayou Bourbeau, Mansfield, and Pleasant Hill. The battery also shelled Union ships on the Mississippi River. Daniel's Battery officially surrendered at Natchitoches, Louisiana, in May 1865.

In late 1861, the Confederate Texas government commissioned Joseph W. Speight to raise an infantry battalion. Speight's Battalion became the Fifteenth Texas Infantry in April 1862, and saw almost no action for the next year as it marched throughout Texas, Arkansas, and the Indian Territory. In May 1863 the regiment was ordered to Louisiana and for the next seven months took an active role against Federal troops in the bayou country. From March to May 1864 the unit helped turn away the Union Red River Campaign. The regiment remained in the trans-Mississippi region until it disbanded in May 1865. The final chapter quantifies age, family status, wealthholdings, and casualties among the regiment's members.

The American Romantic writers laid a broad foundation for the historic and heroic Abraham Lincoln who has evolved as our national myth. The writers were attracted to Lincoln by his eloquent expression of the body of ideals and beliefs they shared with him, especially the ideal of individual liberty and the belief that achievement of the ideal would bring about an amelioration of the human condition. The time, place and conditions in which they lived enhanced the attraction, and Lincoln's able leadership during the Civil War strengthened their estimation of him. His martyrdom was the catalyst which enabled the Romantic writers to lay the foundation of the Lincoln myth which has made his name synonymous with individual freedom everywhere even today.

This study is concerned with the artistic use of classical rhetorical figures in Shakespeare's I Henry IV.After the Introduction, Chapter II examines the history of rhetoric, focusing on the use of the rhetorical figures in Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and Medieval Europe. Chapter III investigates rhetorical principles and uses of the rhetorical figures during the English Renaissance and examines the probable influence of rhetoric and the figures on William Shakespeare. Chapter IV discusses themes, characterization, structure, and language in I Henry IV and presents the contribution of the rhetorical figures to the drama's action and characterization. Chapter V considers the contribution of the figures to the major themes of I Henry IV and concludes that the figures, when used with other artistic elements, enhance meaning.

Thomas Jefferson's political ideology centered on the importance of individual liberty and choice for the common person. Activities throughout his career were grounded on this concept. It is interesting, therefore, that events during the final years of his presidency appear to have prompted him to abandon this philosophy in favor of a more pragmatic, less democratic, approach. The embargo acts which Congress passed at Jefferson's request in between December 1807 and January 1809 outlawed all foreign commercial activities and provided harsh penalties for violations. The president's failure to communicate publicly the reasons he believed these drastic measures were required stand in stark contrast to his political philosophy and left a cloud over his presidency when he left office.

This thesis examines the relationships between popular contemporary musical styles and classic-era art music. Analysis of pop-rock songs, and their referential treatment in art rock, classical music, and society will be examined. Pop-rock musicians borrow from the masters of the past and from each other. Rock guitarists such as Eddie Van Halen employ a virtuosic technique suggestive of Liszt and Paganini. The group Rush borrowed freely from opera seria. Frank Zappa referenced contemporary musicians as well as classical techniques. Referential treatment in popular music and the recent advancements in technology, have challenged copyright law. How these treatments and technologies affect copyright legislators and musicians will be discussed.

This analysis of Tan's first two novels reveals that her female characters suffer from the strains critics like Amy Ling say result from the double paradox of filling the roles of mother or daughter as minority women in a white, male society. Recognizing this double paradox offers Tan's characters, and her readers, the opportunity to resolve the conflicts between mothers and daughters in The Joy Luck Club. Using the theories of psychologist Kathie Carlson helps readers understand how the protagonist of The Kitchen God's Wife resolves similar conflicts with her daughter and her own mother by seeking support from a mythic mother-figure, a Goddess of her own making.

Modest Musorgsky completed two versions of his opera Boris Godunov between 1869 and 1874, with significant changes in the second version. The second version adds a concluding lament by the fool character that serves as a warning to the people of Russia beyond the scope of the opera. The use of a fool is significant in Russian history and this connection is made between the opera and other arts of nineteenth-century Russia. These changes are, musically, rather small, but historically and socially, significant. The importance of the people as a functioning character in the opera has precedence in art and literature in Russia in the second half of the nineteenth-century and is related to the Populist movement. Most importantly, the change in endings between the two versions alters the entire meaning of the composition. This study suggests that this is a political statement on the part of the composer.

This thesis examines the career of Baldur von Schirach, who headed the National Socialist Students' Union from 1928 to 1931 and the Hitler Youth from 1931 until 1940.

Duke Humphrey of Gloucester is often given credit for the renaissance of English learning in the fifteenth century. It is true that the donations of books he made to Oxford, his patronage of English and Italian writers, and his patronage of administrators who had humanist training resulted in the transmittal of humanist values to England. But is it also true that these accomplishments were mainly the by-product of his self-aggrandizing style, rather than a conscious effort on the duke's part to promote learning. The duke, however, does deserve recognition for what he unwittingly may have done.

This study examined public perception of the social relevance of Christian churches in the year the New Poor Law was passed. The first two chapters presented historiography concerning the Voluntary crisis which threatened the Anglican establishment, and the relationship of Christian churches to the New Poor Law. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 revealed the recurring image of "true" Christianity in its relation to the church crisis and the New Poor Law in the working men's, political, and religious periodical press. The study demonstrated a particular working class interest in Christianity and the effect of evangelicalism on religious renewal and social concerns. Orthodox Christians, embroiled in religious and political controversy, articulated practical concern for the poor less effectively than secularists.

In this study, I show that three major areas of Mark Twain's personality—conscience, ego, and nonconformist instincts—are represented, in part, respectively by three of his literary creations: Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, and No. 44. The origins of Twain's personality which possibly gave rise to his troubled conscience, need for attention, and rebellious spirit are examined. Also, Huck as Twain's social and personal conscience is explored, and similarities between Twain's and Tom's complex egos are demonstrated. No. 44 is featured as symbolic of Twain's iconoclastic, misanthropic, and solipsistic instincts, and the influence of Twain's later personal misfortunes on his creation of No. 44 is explored. In conclusion, I demonstrate the importance of Twain's creative escape and mediating ego in the coping of his personality with reality.

Since his rise to fame in the late nineteenth century, Booker T. Washington has been incorrectly labeled a compromiser and power-hungry politician who sacrificed social progress for his own advancement. Through extensive research of Washington's personal papers, speeches, and affiliations, it has become apparent that the typical characterizations of Washington are not based exclusively in fact. The paper opens with an overview of Washington's philosophy, followed by a discussion of Washington's rise to power and consolidation of his "Tuskegee Machine," and finally the split that occurred within the African-American community with the formation of the NAACP. The thesis concludes that, while Washington's tactics were different from and far less visible than those of more militant black leaders, they were nonetheless effective in the overall effort.

Whereas the ecological crisis has elicited a response from many quarters of American Christianity, classical (or denominational) Pentecostals have expressed almost no concern about environmental problems. The reasons for their disregard of the environment lie in the Pentecostal worldview which finds expression in their: (1) tradition; (2) view of human and natural history; (3) common theological beliefs; and (4) scriptural interpretation. All these aspects of Pentecostalism emphasize and value the supernatural--conversely viewing nature as subordinate, dependent and temporary. Therefore, the ecocrisis is not problematic because, for Pentecostals, the natural environment is: of only relative value; must serve the divine plan; and will soon be destroyed and replaced. Furthermore, Pentecostals are likely to continue their environmental disregard, since the supernaturalism which spawns it is key to Pentecostal identity.

This study sought to determine whether the change in the LDS Church practice of black Priesthood denial on June 8, 1978, was voluntary or was a result of external and internal pressures against the Church. Four official statements given by the First Presidency of the Church were examined using Karlyn Kohrs Campbell's seven elements of rhetorical action. It was determined that external and internal pressures from the NAACP, civil rights activists, and dissonant LDS believers, against the Church's practice of black Priesthood denial, were the motivations behind the change in Church practice.