Question for Ted Heiks

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by c.novick, May 18, 2005.

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  1. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    REVIEW OF THEO THE EDUCATED DERELICT'S MOST EXCELLENT ADVENTURE IN THE MA IN CIVIL WAR STUDIES AT AMERICAN MILITARY UNIVERSITY

    Spring 2001

    RC 500 Research Methods in Military Studies A

    Summer 2001

    CW 500 The Civil War: Seminal Event in American History A
    CW 501 Civil War Strategy & Tactics B

    Fall 2001

    CW 502 Civil War Command & Leadership B
    CW 516 Lee & His Lieutenants C
    CW517 Grant & His Lieutenants A-

    Spring 2002

    CW 521 Civil War Society & Culture I
    CW 522 Reconstruction & Post-Civil War America I

    Summer 2002

    CW 524 Civil War Cavalry I

    Spring 2003

    CW 521, CW 522, & CW 524 lapse to F's as I spent a month in hospital with manic-depression

    Fall 2003

    Dropped from the program for failure of re-registration

    Spring 2005

    Bashed my way back into the program April 29, 2005

    Summer 2005

    CW 522 Reconstruction & Post-Civil War America (Ongoing)

    REVIEW OF COURSES

    Research Methods in Military Studies - Reading list includes: Fischer, _Historian's Fallacies_; Jarusch, _Quantitative Methods for Historians_; Jessup, _Guide to the Study & Use of Military History_; Prucha, _Handbook for Research in American History_; Shafer, _Guide to the Historical Method_; and Tuchman, _Practicing History_. Term paper was on Ewell at Gettysburg. Chose the topic because I'm unimaginative and Prof. Shollenberger suggested it as an example in the syllabus' explanation of term paper requirements for his courses. I concluded that Ewell was correct in his decision not to take Cemetery Hill on that first day because his men were tired and there was no way of knowing how many Yanks were on that hill and, besides, Lee screwed up by giving discretionary orders to Ewell.

    Civil War: Seminal Event in American History - Reading list includes: Bruce Catton, _America Goes to War_; Bruce Catton, _Reflections on the Civil War_; Catherine Clinton, _Life in Civil War America_; Thomas L. Connelly & Barbara L. Bellows, _God and General Longstreet_; Avery O. Craven, _The Civil War in the Making_; David H. Donald, _Why the North Won the Civil War_; William Gladstone, _Men of Color: African Americans in the Civil War_; Gerald F. Linderman, _Embattled Courage_; James M. McPherson, _Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution_; James M. McPherson, _Drawn with the Sword_; James M. McPherson, _Marching Toward Freedom_; James I. Robertson, _Soldiers Blue and Gray_; Charles P. Roland, _An American Iliad: The Story of the Civil War_; Kenneth M. Stampp, _Causes of the Civil War_; and Emory M. Thomas, _The Confederacy as a Revolutionary Experience_. Term paper was on the Political Theory of John Caldwell Calhoun. My conclusion was that Calhoun's theories of nullification and State's Rights were meant to preserve the Union, not destroy it (something a later generation didn't understand).

    Civil War Strategy & Tactics - Reading list includes: David H. Donald, _Why the North Won the Civil War_; Paddy Griffith, _Battle Tactics of the Civil War_ (also known as _Rally Once Again_ in its British incarnation); Joseph L. Harsh,_Taken at the Flood: Robert E. Lee and Confederate Strategy in the Maryland Campaign of 1862_; Archer Jones, _Civil War Command and Strategy_; Richard M. McMurry, _Two Great Rebel Armies_; Grady McWhiney and Perry Jamieson, _Attack and Die_; and T. Harry Williamson, _Lincfoln and His Generals_. Series of short papers on the readings.

    Civil War Command & Leadership - Reading list includes: Gabor S. Boritt, _Lincoln's Generals_; Douglas Southall Freeman, _On Leadership_; Joseph T. Glaathar, _Partners in Command_; Roman J. Heleniak and Lawrence L. Hewitt, _Leadership in the Civil War_; Frank E. Vandiver, _Rebel Brass_; and Steven E. Woodworth, _Jefferson Davis and His Generals_. Series of short papers on the readings.

    Lee & His Lieutenants - Reading list includes: Thomas L. Connelly, _Marble Man: Robert E. Lee and His Image in American Society_; William W. Hassler, _A. P. Hill: Lee's Forgotten General_; Samuel J. Martin, _Road to Glory: Confederate General Richard S. Ewell_; Donald C. Pfanz, _Richard S. Ewell: A Soldier's Life_; Charles Osborne, _Jubal: The Life and Times of General Jubal A. Early_; William Garrett Piston, _Lee's Tarnished Lieutenant_; James I. Robertson, _Stonewall Jackson: The Man, The Soldier, and The Legend_; Emory M. Thomas, _Bold Dragoon: The Life of J. E. B. Stuart_; Emory M. Thomas, _Robert E. Lee: A Biography_; Frank E. Vandiver, _Mighty Stonewall_; Jeffry D. Wert, _General James Longstreet_. And there were ten more books on the recommended reading list. Term paper was on Pickett at Gettysburg. Prof. Hagerty didn't like it as it had too much on the Charge itself and not enough on Pickett's leadership style.

    Grant & His Lieutenants - Reading list includes: Steven E. Ambrose, _Campaigns for Fort Donelson_; Michael B. Ballard, _Campaign for Vicksburg_; Bruce Catton, _Grant Moves South_; Bruce Catton, _Grant Takes Command_; Freeman Cleaves, _Rock of Chickamauga: The Life of George H. Thomas_; Peter Cozzens, _Battles for Chattanooga_; Ulysses S. Grant, _Memoirs and Selected Letters_; Basil H. Lidell-Hart, _Sherman: Soldier, Realist, American_; Roy Morris, Jr., _Sheridan_; Gordon C. Rhea, _Battles of Wilderness and Spotsylvania_; Noah Andre Trudeau, _Campaign to Appomattox_; and Noah Andre Trudeau, _Siege of Petersburg_. Term paper was on Chamberlain at Gettysburg. Prof. Shollenberger liked this paper.

    Civil War Society & Culture - Reading list includes: Drew Gilpin Faust, _Mothers of Invention_ and George C. Rable, _Civil Wars_ (sorry, I don't have that list on me here and so am working from memory, which can be treacherous in old age). Term paper was on Civil War Diaries of Black Women Preachers. Prof. Shollenberger liked my paper, but felt that my conclusions may have been a bit "force-fitted."

    Reconstruction & Post-Civil War America - Reading list includes: Eric Foner, _Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution_; John Hope Franklin, _Reconstruction After the Civil War_; Gary W. Gallagher, _The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History_; Michael Golay, _A Ruined Land_; and James M. McPherson, _Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution_. Term paper was to have been on Reconstruction in South Carolina. Borrowed 13 books via ILL from Port Clinton Ida Rupp Library, racked up $2000 in library fines by keeping them till they were a year or so overdue, and the paper remains half-written on my computer to this day. For the retake this Summer, I'm writing on Reconstruction in Florida.

    Civil War Cavalry - Reading list includes: Starr, _The Union Cavalry in the Civil War_ (); Wittenberg, _Gettysburg's Forgotten Cavalry Actions_; and some bios of various cavalry generals (sorry, but I don't have this actual list on hand and so am working from mere memory, which can be treacherous in old age). Term paper was to have been on Brevet Brigadier General James Harvey Kidd at Gettysburg, but I merely ended up drowning in ac series of _Official Records_ reports, autobiographies, diaries, and letter collections of Kidd and his henchmen.
     
  2. joi

    joi New Member

    Ted:

    Thank for directing me to this thread.

    You took one class ech month? 5-week terms? How many hours per week did you study?

    joi
     
  3. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    When I was there first go-round (2001-2003), there were three traditional sixteen-week semesters (Fall, Spring, & Summer) each year, with some new sixteen-week classes starting mid-semester, a few eight-week classes, and even fewer four-week classes. As of when I returned in Summer 2005, they had new sixteen-week classes (usually a full offering) starting at the top of each month and they still have a few eight-weekers and four-weekers, if you'd like to try them.

    How many hours a week did I study? Probably not near enough. Had a high-maintenance girlfriend at the time.
     
  4. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Seriously, if you've got 1000 pages of textbook reading per semester, that's 60-65 pages a week. If you also have 1276 pages of reading to do for your term paper (as I did for my term paper on Ewell at Gettysburg), that's another 80-85 pages a week, for a total of 140-150 pages a week. Depends on how fast you read and how well you comprehend. Distributing that evenly accross seven days a week, that's 20-22 pages of reading per day. If you give yourself two days off from studying per week, that's 28-30 pages per day.
     
  5. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    bumpity...
     

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