Writing to Learn: How to Write--And Think--Clearly about Any Subject at All

From the author of On Writing Well comes a book on how to write clearly aboutany subject--and how to use writing as a means of learning.

Zinsser, William Knowlton

Literature & Fiction

LSU Press

Best of LSU Fiction is a long-overdue collection of the great fiction writers who have been associated with Louisiana State University. Beginning with three-time Pulitzer Prize--winner Robert Penn Warren, this anthology records the journey of LSU's prestigious literary tradition. The twenty writers collected in this volume share the LSU experience yet explore the craft of fiction with diverse and unique world views: John Ed Bradley writes of a failed LSU football hero, James Wilcox of the quirky interactions of a dysfunctional family on a camping trip, Moira Crone of a northerner's firsthand experience of a Louisiana hurricane, and Rebecca Wells of an anti-war cotton grower in the deep South. Whether you are rediscovering the work of literary legends Robert Penn Warren, Walker Percy, Jean Stafford, Peter Taylor, and Charles East or reading contemporary writers like David Madden, James Gordon Bennett, Valerie Martin, Andrei Codrescu, Michael Griffith, and Olympia Vernon, each story will deepen your appreciation of the talent LSU has produced and supported.

Best of LSU Fiction

United States

In 1763 the oppressive program of Grenville set up a tempo of resentment. Virginia and Maryland soon struck against the abuse of liberty, with Patrick Henry as their spokesman. Rioting followed the Carolinas and Georgia. With the Townshend Acts of 1767 the crisis worsened. In nine more years the “Tea and Trumpets” period―to use Mr. Alden’s phrase―would explode into the Revolution. These events form but a single, bright strand in the intricate story of the South during the Revolution. This volume―the first complete account yet written of an exciting period―ranges from the demography of the South (including White, Negro, and Indian groups), through the War of Independence, into the critical early years of the Union. The emphasis throughout is upon political and social change. The network of historic conditions and human motives is treated with consummate skill; and the heroic story of the war, with its gallery of personalities on both sides, is vigorously narrated. The book also gives a valuable account both of the origins and evolution of Southern sectionalism and of the role of the South in creating the Union. Besides the full-scale record of the colony-states on the Atlantic seaboard, the development of the Old Southwest is brilliantly detailed, including Indian warfare, the settlement of Kentucky and Tennessee, and many other related topics.

The South in the Revolution, 1763–1789: A History of the South

History

John R. Alden

Americas

The South in the New Nation, 1789–1819: A History of the South

The first thirty years under the Federal Constitution encompass the most obscure period of Southern history. Thomas P. Abernethy brings this turbulent era into full focus for the first time in this book, Volume IV of A History of the South. With Spain in possession of Florida and Louisiana, claiming and partially occupying everything west of the Alleghenies and south of the Tennessee River, and with England and France attempting to exploit Spain's weakness to strengthen their own positions in the New World, the Southern frontier was beset by active or potential enemies during most of the three decades under consideration. Thus the protection of our Southern and Western borders is one of the main themes of this volume.The South, of course, was not all frontier country, and the history of the well-established civilization of the South Atlantic states has not been neglected. Among the significant political and social developments which the author has reviewed at length are the transition form Washingtonian Federalism to Jeffersonian Republicanism; the unprecedented vast speculation in Western lands and their political repercussions; the separatist intrigues in the early West; such episodes of the Jefferson administration as the Louisiana Purchase, the Burr Conspiracy and the Embargo; and the events leading up to the War of 1812 and the Southern phase of the conflict.The product of many years of sustained effort on the part of a major Southern historian, The South in the New Nation adds significantly to our knowledge of American history.

Abernethy, Thomas P.

This book is the trade edition of Volume VI of A History of The South, a ten-volume series designed to present a thoroughly balanced history of all the complex aspects of the South’s culture from 1607 to the present. Like its companion volumes, The Growth of Southern Nationalism is written by an outstanding student of Southern history. The growth of Southern nationalism was largely the product of relations of the South to other states and to the Federal government. Often what happened in the North and the reaction of Northern men to events determined Southern action and reaction. The sections were being drawn closer together and their interests more and more entwined. That was one of the great reasons for the increased friction and discord. The sectional quarrel developed largely around slavery―slavery as a thing in itself and then as a symbol of all differences and conflicts. The reduction of the struggle to the simple terms of Northern “rights” and Southern “rights” placed issues beyond the abilities of the democratic process and rendered the great masses in both sections helpless before the drift into war. The break could not have been avoided, according to Mr. Craven, unless either the North of the South had been willing to yield its position on an issue that involved matters of “right” or “rights.” Neither could do so because slavery and come to symbolize values in each of their social-economic structures for which men fight and die but which they do not give up or compromise.

The Growth of Southern Nationalism, 1848–1861: A History of the South

Craven, Avery O.

This book is the trade edition of Volume VII of A History of the South, a ten-volume series designed to present a thoroughly balanced history of all the complex aspects of the South's culture from 1607 to the present. Like its companion volumes, The Confederate States of America is written by an outstanding student of Southern history, E. Merton Coulter, who is also one of the editors of the series and the author of Volume VIII.The drama of war has led most historians to deal with the years 1861 to 1865 in terms of campaigns and generals. In this volume, however, Mr. Coulter treats the war in its perspective as an aspect of the life of a people.The attempt to build a nation strong enough to win independence naturally drew Southerners' attention to such problems as morale, money, bonds, taxes, diplomacy, manufacturing, transportation, communication, publishing, armaments, religion, labor, prices, profits, race problems, and political policy. Mr. Coulter balances these phases of the struggle in their relation to war itself, and the whole is dealt with as a period in the history of a people.And finally, Mr. Coulter deals with the ever-recurring questions: Did secession necessarily mean war? Was the South from the very beginning engaged in a hopeless struggle? And, if not, why did it lose?

The Confederate States of America, 1861–1865: A History of the South

Coulter, E. Merton

This book is Volume VIII of A History of the South, a ten-volume series designed to present a thoroughly balanced history of all the complex aspects of the South's culture from 1607 to the present. Like its companion volumes, The South During Reconstruction is written by an outstanding student of Southern history, E. Merton Coulter, who is also one of the editors of the series.The tragic Reconstruction period still casts its long shadow over the South. In his study, Mr. Coulter looks beyond the familiar political and economic patterns into the more fundamental attitudes and activities of the people. In this dismal period of racial and political bitterness, little notice has been taken of the strivings for reorganization of agriculture under free labor, for industrial and transportation development, for a free-school system and higher education, and for the advance of religious, literary, and other cultural interests. Mr. Coulter's book shows these things to be very real, and they are related to the Radical program, which, conceived both in good and evil, ran its course and finally collapsed.This period forms an important chapter in American history. It is an account of a region, defeated in one of the world's great wars, struggling to rebuild its social and economic structure and to win back for itself a place in the reunited nation.

The South During Reconstruction, 1865–1877: A History of the South

Origins of the New South, 1877–1913: A History of the South

Winner of the Bancroft Prize After more than two decades, Origins of the New South is still recognized both as a classic in regional historiography and as the most perceptive account yet written on the period which spawned the New South. Historian Sheldon Hackney recently summed it up this way: “The pyramid still stands. Origins of the New South has survived relatively untarnished through twenty years of productive scholarship, including the eras of consensus and of the new radicalism. . . . Woodward recognizes both the likelihood of failure and the necessity of struggle. It is this profound ambiguity which makes his work so interesting. Like the myth of Sisyphus, Origins of the New South still speaks to our condition.” This enlarged edition contains a new preface by the author and a critical essay on recent works by Charles B. Dew.

Woodward, C. Vann

The history of the South in this century has been obscured in the ever-growing mass of information about the region's rapid change and turbulent development. In this book, Volume X of A History of the South, the historical image of the modern South is brought into full focus for the first time.George Brown Tindall presents a thorough and well-balanced historical narrative of the region during the years 1913--1945 when the South underwent a transformation from a predominantly agricultural area to one of growing industrialization.The inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson ended a half century of political isolation for the South and ushered in an era of agrarian reforms, prohibition, woman suffrage, industrial growth, and recurring crises for Southern farmers. During the 1920's the South was caught in a contrast of urban booms and farm distress. There were flareups of racial violence, and the Ku Klux Klan was revived. Mr. Tindall devotes considerable attention to the Southern literary renaissance which produced William Faulkner, Thomas Wolfe, and many other notable writers and critics.The Emergence of the New South provides a new understanding of the changing political and social climate in the South under the stresses of depression, the New Deal, the labor movement, Negro unrest, and two world wars.

The Emergence of the New South, 1913–1945: A History of the South

TINDALL, George Brown

In 1763 the oppressive program of Grenville set up a tempo of resentment. Virginia and Maryland soon struck against the abuse of liberty, with Patrick Henry as their spokesman. Rioting followed the Carolinas and Georgia. With the Townshend Acts of 1767 the crisis worsened. In nine more years the “Tea and Trumpets” period―to use Mr. Alden’s phrase―would explode into the Revolution.
 These events form but a single, bright strand in the intricate story of the South during the Revolution. This volume―the first complete account yet written of an exciting period―ranges from the demography of the South (including White, Negro, and Indian groups), through the War of Independence, into the critical early years of the Union.
 The emphasis throughout is upon political and social change. The network of historic conditions and human motives is treated with consummate skill; and the heroic story of the war, with its gallery of personalities on both sides, is vigorously narrated.
 The book also gives a valuable account both of the origins and evolution of Southern sectionalism and of the role of the South in creating the Union. Besides the full-scale record of the colony-states on the Atlantic seaboard, the development of the Old Southwest is brilliantly detailed, including Indian warfare, the settlement of Kentucky and Tennessee, and many other related topics.

Alden, John Richard

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Books by LSU Press

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the LSU Press publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Writing to Learn: How to Write--And Think--Clearly about Any Subject at All

Best of LSU Fiction

The South in the Revolution, 1763–1789: A History of the South

The South in the New Nation, 1789–1819: A History of the South

The Growth of Southern Nationalism, 1848–1861: A History of the South

The Confederate States of America, 1861–1865: A History of the South

The South During Reconstruction, 1865–1877: A History of the South

Origins of the New South, 1877–1913: A History of the South

The Emergence of the New South, 1913–1945: A History of the South

The South in the Revolution, 1763–1789: A History of the South