This thesis examines provincial literary culture in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, through the printed and manuscript records of reading associations, the diaries of their members, and a range of other print materials. These book clubs and subscription libraries have often been considered to be polite and sociable institutions, part of the cultural repertoire of a new urban, consumer society. However, this thesis reconsiders reading associations' values and effects through a study of the reading materials they provided, and the reading habits they encouraged; the intellectual and social values which they embodied; and their role in the performance of gender, local and national identities. It questions what politeness meant to associational members, arguing for the importance of morality and order in associational conceptions of propriety, and downplaying their pursuit of structured sociability. This thesis examines how provincial individuals conceived of their relationship to the reading public, arguing that associations provided a tangible link to this abstract national community, whilst also having implications for the 'public' life of localities and families. The thesis also considers how these institutions interacted with enlightenment thought, suggesting that both the associations' reading matter and their philosophies of corporate improvement enabled 'ordinary' men and women to participate in the Enlightenment. It assesses English and Scottish associations, which are usually subjected to separate treatment, arguing that they constituted a shared mechanism of British literary culture in this period. More than simply a 'polite' performance, reading, through associations, was fundamentally linked to status, to citizenship, and to cultural participation.

This thesis explores academic propaganda in the first two years of the First World War, examining the activity of the university men in Britain and Germany who were left behind when their students went to the Front. Using pamphlets and manifestoes, it seeks to highlight the way the War split the international academic community and the creation of a debate which examined not only the causes of the War, but the reasons for which the nations were fighting. By exploring the propaganda organisations of both countries, as well as the academic milieu in which the subjects of this thesis worked, it hopes to provide the context within which this propaganda was created, before turning to an examination of the content of the propaganda - an aspect which has often been overlooked in propaganda studies. The investigation of the content looks first at the outbreak of war and the reaction of the academic community to a shock which shook their community. It then turns to the arguments expounded on culpability for the War, and the ideals for which each side felt they were fighting, illustrating the shift in emphasis from a political war to an ideological conflict between two opposing world views. Finally, the thesis considers perceptions of the War in the early years of the conflict, and the way in which it was seen both as a panacea to overcome social divisions and a catharsis which would lead the way to a new world - ideas which would provide the foundation for later war aims. In taking this comparative approach, the aim is to provide new insights into a fascinating and relatively little-known aspect of the history of the First World War.

John Bellenden's Chronicles of Scotland (1531-r. 1537) is a humanist Scots translation of Hector Boece's Scotorum Historia (1527). As the first full-scale printed national history in the vernacular, the Chronicles assumed a pivotal role in sixteenth-century Scottish literary culture. Despite its contemporary importance,however, relatively little critical attention has been paid to Bellenden's work itself, primarily due to the misconception that it is a neutral translation of the Scotorum Historia. However, as Bellenden successively revised his text in several stages with stylistical, ideological and material alterations, the Chronicles needs to be evaluated as an individual literary work. The <en>Chronicles reveals much about translation practice, cultural attitudes and book history in early modern Scotland. This thesis situates John Bellenden as a leading vernacular humanist whose concern to heighten the quality of vernacular Scots gave major impetus to the vernacular tradition in Scottish historiography. Chapter 1 shows how Bellenden's overall translation policy is indebted to humanist literary precepts and shows how its embodiment evolves through the course of his revision work. The following three chapters, which deal with Books 1, 12 and 16 of the Chronicles respectively, demonstrate the changing nature of Bellenden's translation and revision practice. A comparative analysis of the first manuscript version, three intermediary manuscript versions and the final printed version exhibits how Bellenden's attitude towards the Chronicles is affected by his ultimate respect for humanistic quality, and his consideration of his patrons and his audience. Chapter 5 examines the contemporary reception of the Chronicles. The conclusion seeks to reevaluate the congruity of the Chronicles with the contemporary cultural milieu and its influence on subsequent historiography and literature within and outwith early modern Scotland.

Joseph Wood Krutch, literary critic, biographer, and naturalist, played an important role in twentieth-century American intellectual thought. As a drama critic at The Nation in the 1920's, he was disturbed by his fellow intellectuals' wholehearted acceptance of the verdict of science on modern man. Krutch believed that science lessened the stature of man when it refused to see men as anything but animals. Thus, the modern intellectuals subjected themselves to an attempt by communists and common men to overthrow western culture. The 1930's saw a concerted effort to defend communism by intellectuals, ironically, Krutch believed, at their own peril. Krutch's bitter argument with Marxists eventually forced him to nurture Thoreauvian individualism which culminated in a move to Arizona and a new career as a naturalist. He embraced a pantheistic philosophy. His search for order in a chaotic world made Krutch an interesting figure in American intellectual life.

It was estimated that 35 million people age 65 or older lived in the United States in 2000. Of that number 2.8 million were Black/African American. The U.S. Census Bureau's (2000) population projections show that there will be 70 million older adults age 65 or older by 2030 and African Americans are expected to comprise over 12% of that population. In 1993 older adults had made less elective use of computers than younger adults, accounting for 24.2% of those age 55 to 64 and 4.9% of adults over age 65. By 2003 adults over age 65 recorded a 20.1% increase in computer usage becoming the fastest growing segment of computer users who are engaging in learning computer skills as a way of coping with the technological changes. Studies have found that greater experience with computers is associated with more positive attitudes; however, it has never been determined whether this is true of the older African American population since there is a paucity of research documenting their computer attitudes. This study utilized a mixed methods research design that included an experimental design and an inductive approach with interviews. The following findings emerged: (a) attitudes differed for older African Americans who received computer training and those who did not; (b) there was no distinction in computer attitudes between older adult male and older adult females in the African American population; (c) there was no interaction effect on computer attitudes as moderated by training and gender; (d) older African Americans exhibited a positive disposition towards computers which elicited positive attitudes towards the technology; (e) older African Americans had a nascent need for computer self-efficacy; and (f) older African Americans constructed new meaning regarding computers as a result of their reflection on their computer interaction experience. / The findings have established that older African Americans' attitudes can be influenced by direct computer experience and the study extends prior research by identifying the process by which attitude change takes place. / by Nigel Leon Lovell-Martin. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

李家駒. / "2001年12月" / 論文(哲學博士)--香港中文大學, 2002. / 參考文獻 (p. 294-315). / 中英文摘要. / "2001 nian 12 yue" / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Li Jiaju. / Zhong Ying wen zhai yao. / Lun wen (zhe xue bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2002. / Can kao wen xian (p. 294-315).

张晓林. / 呈交日期: 2002年7月. / 论文(哲学博士)--香港中文大学, 2003. / 参考文献 (p. 164-177). / 中英文前言. / Cheng jiao ri qi: 2002 nian 7 yue. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Zhang Xiaolin. / Zhong Ying wen qian yan. / Lun wen (zhe xue bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2003. / Can kao wen xian (p. 164-177).

This thesis examines the intellectual activity of the German Catholic philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand (1889-1977) during the Weimar Republic (1918-1933). It fills a gap both in the Hildebrand scholarship and the history of Weimar Catholicism. It examines Hildebrand as an intellectual (following Stefan Collini's analytical concept), and argues that he can most adequately be described as a neo-conservative Catholic intellectual. Hildebrand was a profoundly religious person whose principal goal was the personal sanctification of educated Catholics through the renewal of the Catholic ethos. To this end he presented the Catholic worldview not in the form of neo-scholasticism as recently initiated by Pope Leo XIII, but in a new form. At the center of his novel presentation stood his Catholic personalism and his phenomenological value ethics. After an introductory chapter that outlines Hildebrand's upbringing, formation, and education with an eye to his conversion to the Catholic faith in 1914, the thesis situates and analyzes Hildebrand in the context of the four main discourses that he participated in during the Weimar Republic: Chapter two examines Hildebrand's contribution to the discourse on Siegkatholizismus, the confidence of Catholics to re- Christianize German and European culture after the First World War; chapter three examines Hildebrand's novel justification of Catholic teaching in the discourse on the crisis of marriage and sexuality during the middle years of the Republic; chapter four engages his social thought and his views on the relation between person and community during the final period of Weimar Germany; and chapter five explores Hildebrand's transnational activity against the background of a growing transformation of Catholic supranational identity through nationalism shortly before the Nazi takeover of power in 1933.

This thesis is an ethnographic investigation into how Pentecostalism impacts on the religious, family and work life of Nigerian migrants in London, and overall how such religious engagement shapes informants' relationship with the United Kingdom. It brings together the study of migration, Pentecostal Christianity and gender relations. The thesis focuses on the members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG). The RCCG is one of the biggest Pentecostal churches in Nigeria, where it has developed into a significant social and political player and has spread worldwide. In London, the RCCG caters for a good portion of the local Nigerian Christian community. The RCCG is part of a transnational social and moral field that I term ‘London-Lagos', which Nigerian migrants inhabit. RCCG members' relationships in church, with significant others and with wider society are embedded in power relations – relations that are mediated and rendered meaningful by a Pentecostal morality. The negotiation of moral authority is therefore central theme in this thesis. I trace how it shapes and is shaped by church doctrines and wider British society. The central modes employed to mould Pentecostal Nigerian selves in London are self-discipline, the dialectic of submission and responsibility, and the disciplining of others. Such dynamics around Pentecostal authority are crucially articulated in gendered terms. Hence, they are investigated in relation to gendering processes in singlehood, marriage and the raising of children. The requirements of non-Pentecostal contexts such as wider British society and state institutions sometimes contradict this three-fold way of becoming a morally sound Pentecostal. To navigate this tense and morally complex situation RCCG members tend to employ skills (‘smartness') they have obtained in Nigeria.

This examination explores the Viennese cultural milieu at the turn of the century in an effort to show the commonality of backgrounds and interests among those who created the culture during that period. In this the study aims at illustrating the similarities among those artists, intellectuals, and politicians in spite of the fact that their ideas helped lay the basis for the breakdown in integration of twentieth century culture which was illustrated by Carl E. Schorske in his Fin-De-Siecle Vienna: Politics and Culture. All this is in pursuance of the overall issue of the origin of the ideas which have dominated this century, an issue dealt with only tangentially in this study.