Military Appointments Research Articles

6. The Influence of Integrated vs Independent Pathway and Hospital Type on Plastic Surgery Post-Residency Plans Unchanged by Global Pandemic

Background: Statements are often made about what percentage of plastic surgery (PRS) residents go into fellowship vs. private practice vs. academia after graduation. However, few objective studies have been completed. This project is designed to illuminate career choices of PRS residents immediately after graduation from 2018-2022 and secondarily, determine if the pandemic had any measurable impact. Methods: Publicly available data was obtained from institution websites or program queries. Demographic data was collected including sex/gender, training pathway, primary residency, length of training, and post-residency fellowship vs private practice job vs academic job vs military appointment. Comparison of percentages between pre-Covid and post-Covid (2018-19 vs 2020-22), training pathways (independent vs integrated), institution type (private vs public) and program rank (per Doximity) were analyzed using Fisher’s exact test. P values were 2-sided and comparisons with P < 0.01 were considered significant. Statistical analysis was performed using SAS software. Results: Data was collected for 691 graduates across 64 training programs (28% independent, 71% integrated). Most graduates pursued fellowship-training (61%) followed by 28% direct to private practice, 5% direct to academic practice and 1% assumed a military post. Independent residents were more likely to pursue private practice (40%vs.26%, p=0.001), while integrated residents were more likely to pursue additional fellowship training (49%vs70%, p<0.0001). Public institution graduates are more likely to go into private practice (37%vs.23%, p=0.0002), while private institution residents are more likely to pursue fellowship (55%vs.72%, p<0.0001). However, pandemic (p=0.31) and institutional rank (p=0.11) showed no association. Conclusion: In this report, we present career choice trends amongst PRS trainees. We found independent residents more likely to pursue private practice, perhaps due to prolonged training period (minimum 8 years vs 6 years), while integrated residents were more likely to pursue fellowship training. Public/State institution graduates were more likely to pursue private practice, potentially influenced by more exposure to community faculty than trainees in private academic settings. This study demonstrates that training pathway and institution type have a significant impact on post-graduation plans, whereas global pandemic and institutional rank do not. This information can be used by programs and students as they plan for the future.

William chambers: British army surgeon (Toulon, 1793) and his vaccination institution (1803) in Brighton, England.

Following Edward Jenner's research into cowpox, a wave of vaccination services emerged across England. Despite some resistance, these began to promote population prevention where variolation had failed. Sussex's first vaccine institution has long been considered to be that of Sir Matthew Tierney (1776-1845). Founded in 1804, Tierney's "Royal Sussex Jennerian Society for the Extermination of the Small-pox" comprised sixteen stations, including one in Kent. This article presents an earlier example: the 1803 "Brighton Royal Jennerian Institution", founded by a "Mr Chambers" to serve "the indigent poor". Given that both held royal and military appointments in Brighton, Tierney must have been aware of Chambers' efforts in vaccination. It is unclear why Tierney's 1804 plan for the Sussex Vaccine Institution makes no mention of Chambers. In 1803 Chambers also directed the establishment of Brighton's first military hospital and is noted as "surgeon extraordinary" to the Prince Regent. Chambers is identified as William Chambers of the 10th Royal Dragoons, who served at Toulon (1793) as a surgeon's mate. He is also documented at Corsica in 1794 where he examined Nelson's injured eye following the siege of Calvi. Mr Chambers' origin and more details of his biography remain unknown.

The Great Persecution: A Historical Re-Examination by Min Seok Shin

Reviewed by: The Great Persecution: A Historical Re-Examination by Min Seok Shin H. A. Drake Min Seok Shin The Great Persecution: A Historical Re-Examination Studia Antica Australiensis 8 Turnhout: Brepols, 2019 Pp. xii + 280. €55.00. Given how central the Great Persecution of 303–313 was to the history of the fourth century and the Christian church, and the number of studies that have been devoted to it over the years, it comes as something of a surprise to read that this is the first book-length treatment by a single author in almost a century. So, the immediate question is, was it worth it? The immediate answer, happily, is yes. Shin has meticulously assembled all the relevant evidence needed to understand Diocletian’s decision to launch this crucial policy, its impact, and the reason it failed. Additionally, he has put many of his results, including the names, dates, and places of martyrdoms, and the sequence of the persecuting edicts and their contents, into tabular form. The result is a book that will be useful to novices and more advanced scholars alike. Shin divides his study into three parts. The first, and longest, deals with antecedents to the first persecuting edict in 303. Despite, or maybe because of, a growing convergence with pagan thought at the philosophical level, Christians came to be seen as a threat once the emperor Gallienus loosened restrictions in 260. Shin cautions against regarding this action as the equivalent of legalization, and he supports this argument by looking at the vulnerability of Christians serving in the army, as well as evidence for Christians serving in the imperial household. Diocletian’s edict against the Manichees provides insight into his state of mind and, along with his creation of the Jovian and Herculian dynasties, helps explain his reaction when priests told him Christians were responsible for failed [End Page 447] divinations. Scholars have been preoccupied with dating these events and weighing their relative importance, and Shin provides a balanced assessment of the results. The second part systematically goes through the reasons for each of Diocletian’s edicts and the ensuing edicts issued by Maximinus Daia. Although all of this information will be familiar to specialists, Shin adds two features to his study: (1) he uses another of Diocletian’s actions, his famous Edict on Prices, to gauge the value of church goods seized during the persecution, and (2) he classifies known martyrdoms by diocese and date in order to chart the way the edicts were implemented in different parts of the empire. Finally, in a relatively brief third part, Shin carries the story down to Constantine’s defeat of the eastern emperor Licinius in 324, listing official actions taken by each of the emperors in turn. Shin broadens the horizon of his study by a generous use of excursus—everything from dye-making (44) to imperial birthdays (79) to the history of book-burning (109). These may not be strictly necessary, but neither are they irrelevant. A good example is Shin’s treatment of one Aurelius Gaius (34–38). Gaius, a Phrygian, comes up as part of a longer discussion of the spread of Christianity. Shin first presents Gaius’s lengthy tombstone in Greek with an English translation. He then turns to the military appointments that Gaius listed and gives the history of each of them, remarking on the geographical extent of Gaius’s travels (during the course of which we learn that “India” does not refer to the Asian country, but a territory in the south of Egypt). The ranks in which Gaius served leads to a discussion of legionary tactics from Polybius in the second century b.c.e. to Vegetius in the fourth century c.e., which ends with scholarship on legionary titles. None of this is strictly necessary, but it lightens the load for the reader while providing the kinds of tidbits one expects from a genial tour guide, which Shin surely is. When dealing with the issues connected to study of the Great Persecution, Shin engages with other scholars and summarizes their conclusions before presenting his own. There are occasional bouts of circular reasoning (on whether Armenian king Tiridates III issued...

Analysis of the current state of research in the field of improving the smooth ride of vehicles equipped with suspension

In the article the analysis of a modern condition of research in the field of increase of smoothness of a course of various modern motor vehicles, including machines of special and military appointment is resulted. The reasons limiting the decision of a global problem of the further development of automatic telephone exchanges and growth of productivity and safety of work at performance of transport works are formulated. The basic ways of the decision of the given problem, consisting in application of regulation of characteristics of a suspension depending on driving conditions and character of fluctuations of a motor vehicle are analyzed. At the same time, it is proposed to develop fundamentally new innovative structures and algorithms to regulate the characteristics of the suspension, improving the smoothness of the ride and other operational properties of the motor vehicle.

Allegiance, Ability, and Achievement in the American Civil War: Commander Traits and Battlefield Military Effectiveness

Abstract How do the characteristics of military leaders relate to battlefield outcomes? To answer this question, we employ original battle-level data and biographical information on hundreds of commanders in more than 250 battles in the American Civil War. We examine the relationship between two common measures of battlefield success (victory and casualties) and two latent features of commanders—competence and loyalty—that have long been seen as important in the broader study of executive appointments. We find that competent commanders are associated with more successful battlefield outcomes, as are more loyal Confederate commanders. More broadly, our analysis suggests that focusing on the relationship between military appointments and battlefield outcomes—with the latter's relatively clear definition of “success”—allows for direct examination of the relationship between appointee traits and organizational performance. As such, our results have implications for the study of conflict as well as bureaucratic politics.

Poles inscribed on the Volkslist and duty to serve in the Wehrmacht in the light of the verdicts of the Special Court in Toruń

Poles who lived in the northern part of Poland defeated in September 1939, were forcibly subjected to germanization by the German authorities enrolling them onto a list of German nationals (Volksliste) and incorporating into the German army against their will. Any attempts to avoid the appointment to the Wehrmacht, also by those who did not have the citizenship of the Third Reich, were punished as attempts to commit the crime of weakening the defense power of the German state. The cruel punishment of resistant Poles was performed by a German Special Court in Toruń, which sentenced, among others, to a death penalty a Pole who was called to military service, but while not wanting to leave his German wife, he cut off his fingers to avoid the enrollment. The Supreme Court of the Reich established the principle that Poles who receive a military appointment, even if they did not have German citizenship, are to be punished. The Poles called to serve in the Wehrmacht found themselves in an impossible situation. They could have died at the front or in a German prison or a concentration camp. Therefore, those who were forcibly incorporated into the Wehrmacht often deserted, for which they were also threatened with the death penalty.

Cameroon – Military Appointments

Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural SeriesVolume 52, Issue 8 p. 20692B-20692B Military Cameroon – Military Appointments First published: 19 September 2015 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-825X.2015.06576.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume52, Issue8September 2015Pages 20692B-20692B RelatedInformation

Nigeria: Military Appointments

Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural SeriesVolume 52, Issue 7 p. 20657B-20657B Military Nigeria: Military Appointments First published: 11 August 2015 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-825X.2015.06524.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume52, Issue7August 2015Pages 20657B-20657B RelatedInformation

Modernising the Common Law Offence of Misconduct in a Public or Judicial Office

1. IntroductionAs noted in a number of previous articles,1 much of our criminal law is very antiquated. In part, this is due to many obsolete pieces of criminal legislation - often of great age. Also, there still exist a number of common law offences. These should be modernised and placed in statutory form.In respect of one of these common law offences, this article looks at the offence of misconduct in a judicial - or a public - office. In analysing this offence, regard may be had to the following legal texts:* E Coke, Institutes of the Laws of England (1628-41);2* W Hawkins, A Treatise of the Pleas of the Crown (1716-1824);3* M Hale, The History of the Pleas of the Crown (published 1736, written 1640's);4* W Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765-9);5* WO Russell, A Treatise on Crimes and Misdemeanors (1819-1964);6* W Archbold, Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice (1822-2014);7* Halsbury, Laws of England.8It may be noted, in respect of this offence, that - apart from Archbold, Halsbury and Blackstone's Criminal Procedure9 - modern criminal texts contain no (or very little) analysis of this offence.10 Reference may also be made to various Abridgments, major and minor, viz.* N Statham, Abridgment of the Law (c. 1490);11* A Fitzherbert, La Graunde Abridgment (3rd ed, 1577);12* R Brooke, La Graunde Abridgment (1586);13* W Hughes, Grand Abridgment of the Law (1660-3);14* W Sheppard, Grand Abridgment of the Common and Statute Law of England (1675);15* H Rolle, Abridgment des plusieurs Cases et Resolutions del Common Ley (1668);16* W Nelson, Abridgment of the Common Law (1725-6);17* E Viner, A General Abridgment of the Law and Equity (1st ed, 1741-57);18* M Bacon, New Abridgment of the Law (5th ed, 1798);19* J Comyns, Digest of the Laws of England (last ed, 1822).20A useful modern text is Nicholls, Corruption and Misuse of Public Office. 21 This article analyses the early history of this offence.* It asserts that this offence should be placed in statutory form, with the concept of 'public office' including all employment where the individual in question is employed by the 'Siale' in whatever capacity (ie. central or local government), whether that person is remunerated or not and whatever the terms of their employment (eg. whether it is full time, part time, consultancy etc);* It should be stated at the outset that a major problem of this offence is that its early history has not been considered.22 When it is - and the ambits (and purpose) of the offence in earlier times is perceived - it may be seen that a number of modern cases need not actually have been brought, since they were based on a limited perception of this offence that was not originally there. 232. Early History of the OffenceIn early times, 'public office' was synonymous with 'Crown' office. There was no concept of the State as such. Rather, from 1066 - if not before - there was only the sovereign.24 Further, the number of individuals directly employed by the Crown (the sovereign) was relatively small until after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 when the concept of the 'State', separate from the sovereign, really began to develop - both legally and practically.25(a) Early Times - Public OfficersIn early times, 'public officers' mainly comprised members of the royal household, the Privy Council, judges and judicial appointments, exchequer (treasury) officials as well as - in the case of war time (whether a civil war or a war against a foreign enemy) - military appointments. 26 Some of these appointments were not well paid and they were financially onerous. As a result, it was a criminal offence (and still is, in some circumstances) for an individual to refuse to take up the appointment, once nominated or elected.* For example, the City of London had (by way of franchise) - from early times - the the right to elect the offices of: a mayor,27 (two) sheriffs 28 and aldermen. …

CÔTE D’IVOIRE: Military Appointments

Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural SeriesVolume 48, Issue 8 p. 18960A-18960B CÔTE D’IVOIRE: Military Appointments First published: 14 September 2011 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-825X.2011.04045.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume48, Issue8September 2011Pages 18960A-18960B RelatedInformation

The development of military medical care for peripheral nerve injuries during World War I

Although the clinical and electrical diagnoses and treatments of peripheral nerve injuries (PNIs) had been described prior to World War I, many reports were fragmented and incomplete. Individual physicians' experiences were not extensive, and in 1914 the patient with a PNI remained a subject of medical curiosity, and was hardly a focus of comprehensive care. World War I altered these conditions; casualties with septic wounds and PNIs swamped the general hospitals. By 1915, specialized hospitals or wards were developed to care for neurological injuries. In the United Kingdom, Sir Robert Jones developed the concept of Military Orthopedic Centres, with coordinated specialized care and rehabilitation. Military appointments of neurologists and electrotherapists sharpened clinical diagnoses and examinations. Surgical techniques were introduced, then discarded or accepted as surgeons developed skills to meet the new conditions. The US Surgeon General, William Gorgas, and his consultant in neurosurgery, Charles Frazier, went a step further, with the organization of a research laboratory as well as the establishment of a Peripheral Nerve Commission and Registry. Despite these developments and good intentions, postwar follow-up for PNIs remained incomplete at best. Records were lost, personnel transferred, and patients discharged from the system. The lack of a standardized grading system seriously impaired the ability to record clinical changes and compare outcomes. Nevertheless, specialized treatment of a large number of PNIs during World War I established a foundation for comprehensive care that influenced military medical services in the next world war.

The Women’s Revolution in Mexico, 1910 – 1953

Stephanie Mitchell and Patience Schell have produced a classroom-friendly volume that teachers in undergraduate and even high school classes will find extremely useful. Mitchell’s introduction offers a concise narrative of Mexico’s 1910 – 17 revolution and its immediate aftermath, which could easily be assigned in combination with one or more of the essays that follow. Each chapter contains the text of a primary document cited in the essay, creating an easy opportunity for assignments and discussions about primary sources. The essays also frequently reference one another, guiding readers to elaborations on themes. Finally, the authors all adopt a style and language that most readers should find quite accessible.The first chapter following the introduction, Martha Eva Rocha’s prosopographical essay about women seeking recognition as revolutionary veterans, reminds us why volumes like this one remain necessary and indispensable to our arsenal of teaching resources. In March 1916, Venustiano Carranza’s minister of War and Navy announced, “All the military appointments given to señoras y señoritas, whatever may be the services that they have given, are declared null and void” (p. 16). The following year, women were expelled from all branches of the military. As Rocha’s essay and others in this collection remind us, women merit historical study as women because that status, however contested and problematic, mattered (and in many ways still matters) in the realms of law and public policy as well as social practice. While we might teach these essays alongside discussions that trouble the notion of “woman” as a unified or discernable subject, the experiences documented in this collection remind us that it would be a mistake to ignore the tangible impact of “womanhood” in the political and social imaginary.The chapters cover a broad array of women’s experiences during the decades during and immediately after the revolution, including Rocha’s chapter on veterans, Andrew Grant Wood’s on Veracruz rent strikers, Patience Schell’s on Catholic activists, and Katherine Bliss’s on prostitutes in Mexico City’s syphilis clinic. While the volume does not claim to offer a comprehensive account, and experiences and representations of indigenous women are conspicuously absent, it admirably covers considerable social and geographic territory.Building on a well-developed literature on postrevolutionary public education, several essays focus on the opportunities created by women in the teaching professions. During a period when the distinction between revolutionary activism and public education remained blurry, many women found that becoming schoolteachers not only allowed them access to middle-class respectability and a modest (if often unreliable) income but also offered an avenue for pursuing political or ideological aspirations as community organizers. Most of these contributions also grapple with the complicated role that motherhood has played for Mexican women, not only as a lived experience but also as a political motivator and as a role that overlapped with vocations as diverse as teaching and prostitution. In the realm of politics and policy making, as Nichole Sanders and Sarah Buck point out, maternalist claims could be simultaneously constraining and emancipatory — a paradox that invites a lively classroom discussion.Piecing together documentation that often provides only passing glimpses of women’s lives, several chapters adopt biographical or prosopographical strategies to illuminate the connections between women’s private and public lives and between their social efforts and their political ones. These approaches can tend toward hagiography or an awkward familiarity and raise questions, of course, about whether we can generalize from what are often quite unusual experiences or particular perspectives. Nonetheless, these vivid, engaging narratives promise to hold readers’ attention and demonstrate the human stakes of more abstracted or analytical discussions.The contributors keep the volume accessible in part by avoiding sophisticated or jargon-laden theoretical analyses. The essays avoid the citational practices and historiographic reviews that specialists and graduate students find indispensable but that most undergraduates would probably skip. The very elements that make this collection such a valuable asset for teaching will, no doubt, frustrate some readers. The chapters’ length, while suitable for classroom use, requires a simplification of narratives and analyses with which specialists might quibble. The volume contains copyediting errors — incorrect dates, and citations that do not correspond with the textual references, for example — that will probably pass unnoticed by the intended undergraduate audience but that some readers might find distracting.These minor criticisms aside, the editors and authors of this collection have produced a volume that could be used productively in courses on not only Mexican and Latin American history but also comparative women’s history.

The obstacles to stability and security in Africa

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsSeth ObengHe has held various military appointments including Commandant, Military Academy and Training School (MATS) and Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC) as well as Chief of Staff, General Headquarters. He also served as Defence Advisor to the Ghana High Commission in London, 1984–1988. Lt Gen Obeng served as Deputy Force Commander for ECOMOG in Liberia, 1994–1996. He also served as Force Commander of the UN Observer and Monitoring Group (MONUA) in Angola, 1998–1999. He was then appointed Force Commander of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Séparation ou cumul ? P ouvoir civil et autorité militaire dans les provinces égyptiennes de Gallien à la conquête arabe

In the third century, a series of crises led to extraordinary military appointments (duces, correctores), which sidelined the authority of the civil governor. Diocletian's separation of the two forms of service — armata et inermis, civil and military - solidified under Constantine into a provincial administrative structure which disassociated civil and military authority. This separation lost its force after the middle of the fourth century, in favour of the military powers which encroached upon the powers of the civil governor. The history of the relationship between the two authorities is by no means as straightforward as it is commonly represented. Moreover, even when the separation of powers was in force, it did not entail a complete divide between the two authorities, which were led to co-operate in a variety of situations. The appointment of the Comes Aegypti under Theodosius created in the military sphere a rank equivalent to the 'vicariate' of the Augustalis, further extending the equivalence betw...

A Military Application of a Medical Self-Care Program

The cost of health care is a growing concern to the military. Many military clinic appointments and emergency department visits are unnecessary; they are for minor, self-limiting illnesses and injuries that could be treated at home. Military health care can no longer afford the luxury of treating minor illnesses and injuries in the hospital setting. This paper examines one method for military beneficiaries to obtain health care services appropriately. A selected group of military family members received a medical self-care book and an education session, which resulted in more appropriate decision-making about when to use the health care system. This was a 6-month, experimental study using control and experimental groups, with surveys before and after the study period. The self-care book was used 628 times to help make more informed decisions about when to seek medical care. The mean number of clinic and emergency room visits (p = 0.02) decreased for those using the medical self-care book.

Mr. Polk's Army: The American Military Experience in the Mexican War.

Mr. Polk's Army: The American Military Experience in the Mexican War. By Richard Bruce Winders. (College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1997. Pp. xvi, 284. Illustrations. Paper, $17.95.) Texas A&M Press has recently issued Richard Bruce Winder's 1997 study of America's Mexican War army in paperback. In Mr. Polk's Army, the author deals with two main topics: the partisan politics of military appointment and the democratic spirit of the American troops led by James K. Polk's many appointees. Winders is clearly most interested in the relationship between partisan politics and the officer selections of the Polk administration. The author reminds us early that the secretary of war, William Marcy, had previously gained national notice with an 1832 Senate speech vigorously asserting that the victor belong the spoils (16). The book then proceeds to develop in great detail the evidence for a similar emphasis upon partisan advantage in the 1846-1848 officer corps. Once he has built his case for Democratic leadership of the officer corps, Winders makes a more impressionistic case for democratic spirit among the enlisted men. This is clearly the topic Winders most enjoyed researching. His narrative quickens and his examples sparkle as he draws upon both major and minor campaigns from Texas to California to illustrate common behavioral features of the enlisted soldier. Concentrating upon recruitment, training, and camp life, the book argues for an egalitarian spirit in everything from discipline to costume. Combat, which might serve as a test of such ideals as courage, loyalty, and initiative is, however, largely ignored. Winders's army is no monolith. Both regulars and volunteers fought in the war, and the author makes a clear and lucid explanation of the background and organization of each group. He points out that the war benefited each in quite separate ways. For the regulars, the war allowed a purge of many tired, overage generals and the recruitment and training of more motivated enlisted men. For the volunteers, many of whom never saw battle, the war offered an initial burst of excitement that often yielded to boredom and indiscipline. Winders's army is also transitional. In detailing its weaponry, dress, organization, drill, and tactics, he portrays an institution abandoning the memories of the War of 1812 era for a more fluid, industrial, and irregular style that will look fairly familiar to Civil War buffs. But no such transition appears in such matters as diet, camp sanitation, and medical expertise, and the author offers a case that the Mexican War may, proportionate to numbers committed, have been the deadliest of America's wars. If Polk raised a winning army, he raised it at a high price. Contemporary perceptions of ethnicity often color our view of the war, particularly with regard to the role played by Irish immigrants. Winders acknowledges such issues as the American treatment of the Irish deserters who were punished for joining Mexico's San Patricio battalion. …

Richard Taylor: Soldier Prince of Dixie (review)

l64CIVIL WAR HISTORY Tucker writes with great sympathy and passion for his subject. One wonders if he did not fall into the trap that biographers often do, whereby they become so captivated by their subjects that they lose objectivity. Did Bannon have no warts? Did he ever err in judgment? What were his views on slavery? These are small matters, however. Tucker's is a moving account of a story that needed to be told. Both of these books add to the increasing awareness of the religious dimensions of the Civil War, most especially of the part played by Catholics. Both books are a further reminder that when each side is convinced that its cause is God's cause, there is little room and not much desire for compromise and amicable solutions. Cultural tunnel-vision and ardent nationalism mixed with religious passion is a sure recipe for intolerance, violence, and unthinking bravado. David B . Chesebrough Illinois State University Richard Taylor: Soldier Prince ofDixie. By T. Michael Parrish. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992. Pp. xiv, 553. $34.95.) Richard Taylor is well known to many students of the Middle Period for his valuable memoir, Destruction and Reconstruction: Reminiscences ofthe Late War (1879). Others may recall that Taylor, a Louisiana sugar planter given to the high life, was the son of President Zachary Taylor and rose to be one of the Confederacy's seventeen lieutenant generals in the Civil War, one of three officers to reach that rank without having gone to the U.S. Military Academy—the other two non-West Pointers were Wade Hampton of South Carolina and Nathan Bedford Forrest of Tennessee. Taylor has been the subject of several scholarly articles or essays as well as a primary or secondary figure in other books about the campaigns of the Civil War. Now T. Michael Parrish offers this thorough, descriptive, and analytical biography, one based on his Ph.D. dissertation completed at the University of Texas at Austin. Parrish has conducted exemplary research in numerous archives across the nation and investigated all phases of Taylor's life. The author has done a fine job in presenting a rounded picture of Taylor's antebellum and postbellum years in addition to a detailed treatment ofhis wartime service. Indeed, readers are cautioned not to neglect the first three chapters, which reveal much about the antebellum South and Louisiana in particular. Parrish is especially good on defining the importance of slavery in Louisiana's society and economy . That assessment dovetails with Taylor's role as a pro-secessionist at his state's secession convention, where he served as chair of the committee on military and naval affairs. Taylor held a longstanding interest in military matters but no prewar military rank. He exerted influence through his position as state senator and owner of one of Louisiana's largest sugar plantations. Parrish documents Taylor's precarious personal finances, elegant social life, BOOK REVIEWS165 and useful family relationships, such as being the brother-in-law of Jefferson Davis. These interconnections probably preordained Taylor to gain some sort of state or Confederate military appointment, but in contrast to more prominent Southern political leaders such as Howell Cobb, Louis T. Wigfall, and Robert Toombs, Taylor turned out to have real tactical talent and merited field command in combat, as Parrish shows. A drawback, however, was Taylor's health. Parrish demonstrates that in several instances, due to chronic rheumatoid arthritis, Taylor was unable to exercise the responsibilities of his rank. The malady also had been troublesome to the general before the war, requiring time away from his plantation and special regimens and treatments. The heart of the book is Parrish's excellent portrait of Taylor as a general, from neophyte in the East to experienced campaigner in the West. Starting as an unpaid civilian adviser to Gen. Braxton Bragg in Pensacola, Florida, Taylor was elected colonel of the 9th Louisiana infantry regiment. Although he saw no combat early in the war, Taylor was promoted over the heads of senior officers to brigadier and command of the Louisiana brigade. This assignment caused tongues to wag about Taylor's family connections to President Davis. Nevertheless, Taylor went on to...

The Moving Temples of Stowe: Aesthetics of Change in an English Landscape over Four Generations

Eighteenth-century Stowe is full of surprises. But nothing, in the end, is more astonishing about that extraordinary place than the continuity of change. Other outstanding English gardens had their active period of creation, with perhaps a second active period of revision twenty or thirty years later, but the gardens at Stowe were always being added to and always being modified, so that some areas were worked over three or four times. From the death of Queen Anne in 1714 to the death almost exactly a hundred years later of the marquess of Buckingham, the gardens of Stowe seem to have been perpetually on the move. Behind this continuous change, prompting and stimulating it, were two constant factors: a profusion of money and an indirect line of succession. Sir Richard Temple (1675-1749), successful general in the French wars and uncompromising Whig, who depended, for his own and his family's whole future, on George I, was duly created Baron Cobham at the king's accession in 1714 and raised to viscount four years later. He made a fortune out of political and military appointments, and in 1715 he married the daughter of a millionaire London brewer. So he had no shortage of money and from that moment, determined to keep Stowe at the growing point of taste, he set out to make his house and his garden, especially his garden, the most famous in England. He was the first of Stowe's three creative and innovative owners. When he died, over thirty years later in 1749, he had added several lakes to his garden and nearly fifty

New Aspirations and Old Constraints in Thailand's Foreign Policy

Attitudes toward foreign policy in Thailand have undergone a change since the elections of July 24, 1988, ushered in the first elected government since 1976. Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda had ruled for nine years after he was brought into office by a revolt against Kriangsak Chamanan in February 1980, and he had the opportunity to remain in power after the July 1988 elections as a nonelected leader. He understood, however, that pressure for an elected prime minister was becoming irresistible and could not be frustrated without consequences for political stability. Moreover, some suspect that Prem had lost the support of the military by his effort to retain control of military appointments as a way of preventing further coups against the government. Therefore, in recognition of the strength of the democratic movement in Thailand, Prem stepped aside and allowed politics to follow their natural course. Chatichai Chunhawan, leader of the Chart Thai Party, was able to form a governing coalition with five other parties (the Social Action Party, the Democrats, Rassadorn, the United Democrats, Mual Chon) with a total of 220 of the 357 seats in the lower house. Elected governments have demonstrated an ability to introduce major changes in Thailand's foreign policy as a reflection of the pent-up social forces they represent. But military governments have also displayed flexibility in this area, as Kriangsak Chamanan did in managing his equidistant-foreign In fact, flexibility has been the norm in Thai foreign policy. Kukrit Pramoj's elected government was able to adjust to the fall of Saigon in April 1975 by establishing diplomatic relations with China. Since the emergence of a civilian government under Sanya Dharmasakti in October 1973, the ground had been laid for the eventual

The Statistical Evidence for Yang Ch'eng-wu's Manipulation of the Military Elite

William Parish in “Factions in Chinese Military Politics,” ( The China Quarterly, No. 56, p. 667) argues that military factions only assumed political importance during the Cultural Revolution. Part of this argument is based on the claim that Yang Ch'eng-wu, when acting chief of staff and secretary-general of the Central Committee's Military Affairs Committee, attempted to influence the appointment of PLA cadres to provincial revolutionary committees in favour of the 5th Field Army. This influence, he demonstrates, by considering the distribution of PLA cadres with known Field Army affiliations on two groups of provincial revolutionary committees: those formed before and those formed after 8 March 1968 – the date of Yang's last public appearance. Parish argues that a significantly greater proportion of military cadres with a 5th Field Army background were appointed to those Provincial Revolutionary Committees formed before 8 March 1968, than one would have expected given the distribution of such cadres in military posts in 1966. Since he had previously argued that military appointments before 1967 were made without reference to Field Army affiliations, he concludes that Yang was engaged in factional politics. However, Parish's account of Yang Ch'engwu's activities is very much open to question on the grounds that the available evidence suggests that most military appointments to the leading positions (i.e. chairman or vice-chairman) on Provincial-level Revolutionary Committees were determined well before the formal establishment of these institutions and before Yang's dismissal.