Michael Morgan

In the years preceding the Civil War, Delaware was essentially divided--as a slave state, it had many ties to the South, but as the first state to ratify the federal Constitution, it was fiercely loyal to the Union. With the outbreak of war, the First State rallied to Lincoln's call and sent proportionally more troops to fight for the Union than any free state. Yet even as the renowned Du Pont mills provided half of the Union gunpowder, Southern sympathizers transported war materiel to the Confederacy via the Nanticoke River. Author Michael Morgan deftly navigates this complex history. From Wilmington abolitionist Thomas Garrett, who helped 2,700 fugitive slaves flee north, to the prison camp at Fort Delaware that held thousands of captured Confederates and political prisoners, Morgan reveals the remarkable stories of the heroes and scoundrels of Civil War Delaware.

One of the world’s most influential and prolific media scholars, George Gerbner played a major role in the development of communication theory and research. His critical approach to mass communication changed the way we think about media industries, the messages and images they produce, and their social and cultural impacts. Gerbner is most widely known for his decades of work on television violence, but his research and writing focused on many other vital aspects of the symbolic cultural environment. This book provides a broad-based introduction to Gerbner’s theories of mass communication, his long-term research on media content and effects, and the critical and policy contributions of his work. Although hundreds of studies have been conducted based on Gerbner’s ideas, this is the first volume to provide a concise and comprehensive overview of his many contributions to the field.

One of the world’s most influential and prolific media scholars, George Gerbner played a major role in the development of communication theory and research. His critical approach to mass communication changed the way we think about media industries, the messages and images they produce, and their social and cultural impacts. Gerbner is most widely known for his decades of work on television violence, but his research and writing focused on many other vital aspects of the symbolic cultural environment. This book provides a broad-based introduction to Gerbner’s theories of mass communication, his long-term research on media content and effects, and the critical and policy contributions of his work. Although hundreds of studies have been conducted based on Gerbner’s ideas, this is the first volume to provide a concise and comprehensive overview of his many contributions to the field.

Going Down the Ocean, A Brief History of Ocean City, Maryland will chronicle the long and colorful history of Maryland's premier ocean resort. Beginning with the visit of the explorer Giovanni da Verrazano, this book will examine the arrival of Asssateague's famous ponies, visits by Blackbeard and other pirates, the birth of Steven Decatur, and brave soldiers who fought in the Civil War. After Ocean City was founded in the late 19th century, the resort became a mecca for vacationers, who enjoyed the surf and sand along side the pound fishermen who worked their nets a short distance off shore. During the 20th century, Ocean City witnessed the arrival of the automobile, bootleggers, and German submarines. Following the Second World War, Bobby Baker, confidant to Lyndon Johnson, built a motel on the barren dunes to the north and helped ignite the condominium boom that saw Ocean City grow all the way to the Delaware line.

The wide promenade of the boardwalk, the ring of the carnival games and a steaming bushel of crabs all make for an iconic Ocean City summer. Yet before this sandy stretch became Ocean City, it was the X on Blackbeard's map, the home for Assateague ponies and the genteel Ladies' Resort to the Ocean. Author Michael Morgan chronicles the history of his hometown, from stories of ships lost to raging winter storms and an enemy off the coast to memories of the old Ocean City Flyer that carried fashionably clad holidaymakers. In this fascinating series of vignettes, Morgan recalls readers to warm Maryland summers long past.

Before a 1901 ceremony opened the peaceful resort town, the wild dunes of Bethany Beach were part of the rough-and-tumble New World and the deadly land wars between Delawareans and Marylanders. The twentieth century brought crowds eager to partake of a healthy saltwater bath and chicken-and-waffle socials. Local author Michael Morgan chronicles the history of this "quiet" resort with stories of rumrunners who concealed their illicit goods in local chicken coops, World War II residents who anxiously kept a weather eye on the Atlantic and the devastating 1962 nor'easter. Join Morgan as he deftly narrates the storied history of this beloved Delaware beach town.

Memories of lost pirates' treasure, daring rescues off the coast and prowling German U-boats linger amidst the dunes and sea grass of Rehoboth Beach. From modest beginnings as a religious retreat, the town has survived fierce storms and gales to blossom into a vibrant community and the nation's summer capital. With spirit and a touch of wry humor, Delmarva journalist Michael Morgan regales his audience with tales of intrepid explorers, brave guardians of the beach and ever-evolving trends in swimwear. Morgan invites his readers beyond the boardwalk to catch a glimpse of the true Rehoboth Beach.

Shame is one of a family of self-conscious emotions that includes embarrassment, guilt, disgrace, and humiliation. On Shame examines this emotion psychologically and philosophically, in order to show how it can be a galvanizing force for moral action against the violence and atrocity that characterize the world we live in. Michael L. Morgan argues that because shame is global in its sense of the self, the moral failures of all groups in which we are a member – including the entire human race – reflect on each person individually. Drawing on historical and current affairs to explore the emotion of shame, as well as films such as Night and Fog, Hotel Rwanda and Life is Beautiful and the work of Primo Levi, Bernard Williams, and Stanley Cavell, Michael Morgan illustrates how moral responsibility can be facilitated by calling upon an emotional reaction that is familiar, complex, and central to our conception of ourselves as individuals and as members of society.

Shame is one of a family of self-conscious emotions that includes embarrassment, guilt, disgrace, and humiliation. On Shame examines this emotion psychologically and philosophically, in order to show how it can be a galvanizing force for moral action against the violence and atrocity that characterize the world we live in. Michael L. Morgan argues that because shame is global in its sense of the self, the moral failures of all groups in which we are a member – including the entire human race – reflect on each person individually. Drawing on historical and current affairs to explore the emotion of shame, as well as films such as Night and Fog, Hotel Rwanda and Life is Beautiful and the work of Primo Levi, Bernard Williams, and Stanley Cavell, Michael Morgan illustrates how moral responsibility can be facilitated by calling upon an emotional reaction that is familiar, complex, and central to our conception of ourselves as individuals and as members of society.

Television and its Viewers reviews ‘cultivation’ research, which investigates the relationship between exposure to television and beliefs about the world. James Shanahan and Michael Morgan, both distinguished researchers in this field, scrutinize cultivation through detailed theoretical and historical explication, critical assessments of methodology, and a comprehensive ‘meta-analysis’ of twenty years of empirical results. They present a sweeping historical view of television as a technology and as an institution. Shanahan and Morgan’s study looks forward as well as back, to the development of cultivation research in a new media environment. They argue that cultivation theory offers a unique and valuable perspective on the role of television in twentieth-century social life. Television and its Viewers, the first book-length study of its type, will be of interest to students and scholars in communication, sociology, political science and psychology and contains an introduction by the seminal figure in this field, George Gerbner.

Television and its Viewers reviews 'cultivation' research, which investigates the relationship between exposure to television and beliefs about the world. James Shanahan and Michael Morgan, both distinguished researchers in this field, scrutinize cultivation through detailed theoretical and historical explication, critical assessments of methodology, and a comprehensive 'meta-analysis' of twenty years of empirical results. They present a sweeping historical view of television as a technology and as an institution. Shanahan and Morgan's study looks forward as well as back, to the development of cultivation research in a new media environment. They argue that cultivation theory offers a unique and valuable perspective on the role of television in twentieth-century social life. Television and its Viewers, the first book-length study of its type, will be of interest to students and scholars in communication, sociology, political science and psychology and contains an introduction by the seminal figure in this field, George Gerbner.

This book draws together 13 distinctive and original explorations of how dominant cultural mainstreams and margins are formed and resisted, how they stabilize and shift, and how they permeate and define each other. The chapters speak to central problems of cultural politics that represent critical challenges for theory, research, and action in the social world. The authors develop and advance new approaches for interdisciplinary inquiry into contemporary cultural issues. Drawing on and extending scholarship in communication, political science, sociology, women's studies, critical cultural studies, anthropology, and American studies, they analyze what happens when marginal groups meet mainstream forces. The chapters will enliven academic debates over what constitutes a cultural mainstream or margin. This volume explores theories, problems, and contemporary struggles over identity and representation, ideology and hegemony, and discourse and action. The essays focus on critical questions covering postcolonial theory, primitivism, feminism, sexuality, the body, art, multiculturalism, the environmental crisis, the mass media, and social movements. The authors examine diverse issues, ranging from the writing of women prisoners to how media policy is embedded in cultural history, to the political implications of cultural representations in cross-cultural contexts. Altogether, the diversity and depth of the text will help us develop new and complementary ways of thinking about critical questions in the politics of culture.