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  First Bull Run: The History of...

  Jonathan Gianos-Steinberg

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  After the Battle of Fort Sumter in April 1861 ignited the Civil War, many in the North expected a relatively quick victory, including President Abraham Lincoln. While that seems naïve in hindsight, given the knowledge that the war lasted over four years, these expectations seemed entirely realistic at the time due to the Union’s overwhelming economic advantages over the South. At the start of the war, the Union had a population of over 22 million, whereas the South had a population of 9 million, nearly 4 million of whom were slaves. Union states contained 90% of the manufacturing capacity of the country and 97% of the weapon manufacturing capacity. Union states also possessed over 70% of the total railroads in the pre-war United States at the start of the war, and the Union also controlled 80% of the shipbuilding capacity of the pre-war United States. 
  McDowell’s strategy during the First Battle of Bull Run was grand, and in many ways it was the forerunner of a tactic Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and James Longstreet executed brilliantly on nearly the same field during the Second Battle of Bull Run in August 1862. McDowell’s plan called for parts of his army to pin down General P.G.T. Beauregard’s Confederate soldiers in front while marching another wing of his army around the flank and into the enemy’s rear, rolling up the line. McDowell assumed the Confederates would be forced to abandon Manassas Junction and fall back to the next defensible line, the Rappahannock River. In July 1861, however, this proved far too difficult for his inexperienced troops to carry out effectively. 
  As the first major land battle of the Civil War, the First Battle of Bull Run made history in several ways. The two sides fought near the railroad junction at Manassas on July 21, 1861, just 25 miles away from Washington, which was close enough for many civilians from the nation’s capital to come and watch what they expected to be a rout of Confederate forces.

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  Grave Dealings - Body Snatching...

  Tim Dewysockie

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  In the eighteenth century the first American medical school was established in Philadelphia. Following the model of European universities, anatomical lectures were conducted with cadavers. But where did the bodies come from? Dissection was viewed as a fate worse than death, and the only legal source of "stiffs" was executed criminals. But there were not enough. As the medical profession and its need for "anatomical material" grew, a new, macabre practice emerged: body snatching. 
   
   
   
  Body snatchers secretly obtained bodies from cemeteries and sold them to medical schools for dissection. But how did body snatching work? How did body snatchers and medical schools avoid getting caught, and what happened when they did? How did the era of the body snatchers end? Grave Dealings: Body Snatching In Philadelphia, 1762-1883 digs through archives to unearth the forgotten history of a time of graveyard patrols and anatomy riots, when the dead needed protection from the living. Philadelphia pioneered and became the center of American medical education and practice–and body snatching–in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. 
   
   
   
  Grave Dealings explores the social, cultural, practical, and legal aspects of body snatching in America's first capital city and relates it to the continuing ethical struggles that surround the treatment of human remains to this day.

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  Marriage Material - How an...

  Abigail Ocobock

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  A cutting-edge study of marriage’s transformative effects on same-sex relationships.  It is no secret that marriage rates in the United States are at an all-time low. Despite this significant decline, the institution of marriage endures in our society amid historic changes to its meaning and practice. How does the continuing strength of marriage impact the relationships of same-sex couples after the legalization of same-sex marriage?
   
  Drawing on over one hundred interviews with LGBTQ+ people, Marriage Material reveals the transformative impact marriage equality has had on same-sex relationships. Sociologist Abigail Ocobock looks to same-sex couples across a wide age range to illuminate the complex ways institutional mechanisms work in tandem to govern the choices and behaviors of individuals with different marriage experiences. Ocobock examines both the influence of marriage on the dynamics of same-sex relationships and how LGBTQ+ people challenge heteronormative assumptions about marriage, highlighting the complex interplay between institutional constraint and individual agency.
   
  Marriage Material presents a bold challenge to dominant scholarly and popular ideas about the decline of marriage, making clear that gaining access to legal marriage has transformed same-sex relationships, both for better and for worse.

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  Same River Twice - Putin's War...

  Sofi Oksanen

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  Blending the call to action of We Should All Be Feminists with the journalistic rigor of Masha Gessen, “an exquisite feminist critique of Russia’s oppressive tactics"" (Kirkus Reviews) revealing how modern Russia’s history of weaponizing sexual violence plays a crucial role in its current geopolitical strategy  
  “It’s one of those books that can truly change a reader's life. . . . A powerful, unforgettable read.” —Andrey Kurkov, award-winning author of Grey Bees and The Silver Bone 
  “Thoughtful, instructive and deeply harrowing.” —Luke Harding, The Guardian 
   
  On March 22, 2023, the Swedish Academy organized a conference on threats to democracy and freedom of expression featuring a slate of distinguished speakers including Arundhati Roy, Timothy Snyder, and Sofi Oksanen. Oksanen’s address—entitled “Putin's War on Women”— would go on to spark such interest that the acclaimed Finnish writer felt compelled to return to it as the basis for a larger, more in-depth look at Putin’s threat to women. The result is Same River, Twice, a devastating book-length essay that incisively builds on the themes and arguments first presented in her powerful speech. 
  During the Soviet occupation of Estonia, Oksanen's great-aunt was arrested and brutally interrogated overnight. Left permanently traumatized by the experience, she would never speak again. Using her family story as a starting point, Oksanen launches an investigation into the systematic crimes that the Russian government has, for nearly a century, committed with impunity. From the Russian military's entry into Berlin in 1945 to its modern invasion of Ukraine, Russia has continually employed violence against women when combatting its enemies. Life for women in Putin's Russia is little better; gender equality is in decline, women are silenced by the legal system, and rape is used to humiliate victims, especially women in media. 
  Through Oksanen's sober analysis a disturbing picture emerges: under Putin, misogyny has become foundational to the state’s power. It underpins the current regime, serves as a means of weaving international alliances, and forms an essential part of Russia’s ongoing genocide in Ukraine, in turn posing a threat to the rights of women and minorities worldwide. As threats to democracy grow stronger across the globe, the powerful and timely Same River, Twice is a warning that cannot not be ignored. 
  Translated from the Finnish by Owen F. Witesman

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  The Sacred Alphabet - Language...

  Ylia Callan

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  This audiobook is narrated by an AI Voice.   
  The Sacred Alphabet - Language, Meaning and Mind invites listeners on a profound journey into the origins and mysteries of human language. From the first sounds of the human soul to the sacred symbols of ancient scripts, this audiobook explores how sound, symbol, and meaning weave together to shape consciousness itself. 
  Discover how alphabets and glyphs evolved from sacred art into tools of thought, how words carry emotional weight that can heal or harm, and how the shared roots of speech reveal deep connections across cultures. With chapters spanning the music of meaning, the emotional resonance of words, and the divine dimensions of sacred texts, The Sacred Alphabet illuminates the living relationship between language, mind, and spirit. 
  This audiobook is for listeners who are fascinated by linguistics, drawn to spiritual traditions, or curious about the hidden architecture of human thought, this audiobook offers a rich tapestry of insights into how language shapes reality - and how the future of words, symbols, and consciousness may redefine what it means to be human.

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  A Rare Recording of Psychologist...

  Timothy Leary

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  Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 - May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs, particularly LSD. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from "bold oracle" to "publicity hound". According to poet Allen Ginsberg, he was "a hero of American consciousness", and writer Tom Robbins called him a "brave neuronaut". President Richard Nixon called him "the most dangerous man in America". During the 1960s and 1970s, at the height of the counterculture movement, Leary was arrested 36 times. The following recording was made in 1992.

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