In a captivating blend of photographs and text, Under Stately Oaks showcases over 150 years of Louisiana State University's past, following the evolution of the tiny Seminary of Learning of the State of Louisiana, founded near Pineville in 1853, into a university of well over 30,000 students for the twenty-first century. Thomas F. Ruffin has written an affectionate history of LSU, but it is also an honest one. The notorious scandals of 1939, the university's desegregation struggles, and free-speech alley confrontations during the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, as well as the football team's 2003 NCAA championship and the university's pivotal role in relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina -- all are chronicled here.From the red pantile roofs and honey-colored stucco of its Italian Renaissance architecture to the "stately oaks and broad magnolias" hailed in the alma mater, the distinct beauty of the LSU campus is unrivaled. The history of the state's flagship university is as colorful as the azaleas that adorn its landscape every spring. Its first superintendent, William Tecumseh Sherman, later opposed its first faculty member and future president, David F. Boyd, in war. Yet both also fought for an LSU curriculum that embraced a liberal education with a classical component. When LSU lost its state funding during the 1870s, it was Boyd who maneuvered a merger with Louisiana A&M College, a move that ensured LSU's survival and preserved its identity. In the 1930s, Huey Long demanded the best for LSU on many fronts, and by the mid-twentieth century the institution was not only the state's premier university but also nationally recognized for its prestigious faculty and cutting-edge research. This newly updated edition features a foreword by Chancellor Sean O'Keefe and a final chapter entitled "The 21st Century and Beyond," which details the concrete steps LSU has taken towards fulfilling its goal of becoming a nationally competitive flagship institution. The last chapter also portrays, in text and striking photographs, the central role LSU played in emergency relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina, and examines how the university is faring in the post-Katrina world. Under Stately Oaks captures the spirit of the university as never before. Though the book shows that much has changed over the years, it is primarily a celebration of the timeless aspects of the LSU experience and a compelling testimony to the university's ongoing commitment to progress.

Why write instead of draw when it comes to architecture? Why rely on literary pieces instead of architectural treatises and writings when it comes to the of study buildings and urban environments? Why rely on literary techniques and accounts instead of architectural practices and analysis when it comes to academic research and educational projects? Why trust authors and writers instead of sociologists or scientists when it comes to planning for the future of cities? This book builds on the existing interdisciplinary bibliography on architecture and literature, but prioritizes literature’s capacity to talk about the lived experience of place and the premise that literary language can often express the inexpressible. It sheds light on the importance of a literary instead of a pictorial imagination for architects and it looks into four contemporary architectural subjects through a wide variety of literary works. Drawing on novels that engage cities from around the world, the book reveals aspects of urban space to which other means of architectural representation are blind. Whether through novels that employ historical buildings or sites interpreted through specific literary methods, it suggests a range of methodologies for contemporary architectural academic research. By exploring the power of narrative language in conveying the experience of lived space, it discusses its potential for architectural design and pedagogy. Questioning the massive architectural production of today’s globalized capital-driven world, it turns to literature for ways to understand, resist or suggest alternative paths for architectural practice. Despite literature’s fictional character, the essays of this volume reveal true dimensions of and for places beyond their historical, social and political reality; dimensions of utmost importance for architects, urban planners, historians and theoreticians nowadays.

In the years following World War II, the national Democratic Party aligned its agenda more and more with the goals of the civil rights movement. By contrast, a majority of southern Democrats remained as committed as ever to a traditional, segregationist ideology. Through the career of Senator James Eastland, one of the mid-century's most prominent politicians, author Maarten Zwiers explores the uneasy, yet mutually beneficial relationship between conservative southerners and the increasingly liberal party to which they belonged. Mississippi Democrat James "Big Jim" Eastland began an influential four-decade career in the United States Senate in 1941, ultimately rising to become president pro tempore of the Senate, a position that placed him third in the line of presidential succession. His reputation for toughness developed from his unfailing and ruthless opposition to greater civil rights and his concern over the global spread of communism, as he believed participants in the two movements were working together to undermine the American way of life. Zwiers contends that despite Eastland's extreme positions, he still managed to maintain influence through productive relationships with his Senate colleagues-liberal as well as conservative. Though the progressive wing of the Democratic Party continued to push for stronger civil rights legislation, they valued compromise with southern senators like Eastland in order to ensure support from a region the Democrats could ill afford to lose. While Eastland's campaigning rhetoric was inflammatory, his ability to operate within the national political structure by leveraging moderate concessions contributed to his lengthy and effective career. Drawing on recently opened archival records, Maarten Zwiers offers a nuanced portrait of a man frequently portrayed as a southern zealot. Senator James Eastland provides a case study of the complicated relationship between party and party members that allowed Democrats to maintain power in the South for much of the twentieth century.

Magnificent, maddening, thrilling, heartbreaking— over the years, LSU football has been called many things; boring is not among them. But no period in the team’s history exemplifies the extreme highs and lows of sport better than the past fifteen years. In 1993, the Tigers were in the midst of a record six-season losing streak and the program was struggling to dig its way out of its darkest days. By 2008, LSU had emerged as one of the premier college football powers in the nation and the unprecedented two-time winner of the BCS national championship. In The Fighting Tigers, 1993–2008, award-winning sportswriter Scott Rabalais chronicles the Tigers’ fantastic rise to the top of the college football universe, vividly detailing the victories and defeats, the coaches and the players, the tears and the titles of this sometimes frustrating, always fascinating period of LSU football. Game by game, Rabalais recounts the tenures of the four head coaches who led the Tigers during these years—“Curley” Hallman, the strict taskmaster whose mounting losses created dissension and apathy among the Tiger faithful; Gerry DiNardo, the charismatic salesman whose efforts to “Bring Back the Magic” temporarily vaulted the Tigers again into the national polls; Nick Saban, the intense workhorse who steadily rebuilt the program and led the team to its first national championship in almost fifty years; and Les Miles, the engaging wildcard who finally emerged from Saban’s shadow with a championship of his own. Rabalais provides expert analysis of the 2004 and 2008 BCS national championship games and other postseason bowl games as well as the “ordinary” games that have crossed over into legendary status—1993’s “Pigs Will Fly” victory against Alabama, “The Night the Barn Burned” at Auburn in 1996, and 2002’s “Bluegrass Miracle.” Along the way, Rabalais recounts the incredible athletic feats of numerous standout players, including Eddie Kennison, Kevin Faulk, Josh Reed, Michael Clayton, Marcus Spears, Chad Lavalais, and Glenn Dorsey. Throughout, Rabalais interweaves off-the-field events that have affected or enhanced the LSU football legacy: the return of the traditional home white jerseys; the creation of the Bengal Belles; two expansions of Tiger Stadium; the death of Mike V and the introduction of Mike VI; and perhaps most poignant, the Tigers’ volunteer efforts and emotional responses in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. An appendix contains the vital statistics of LSU’s entire football history. Individual and team records in every area, coaching records, All-Americans and Academic All-Americans, year-by-year results, top ten Tiger Stadium crowds, Tigers in pro football— all of this and more will satisfy even the most hardcore LSU sports statistician. Peter Finney, venerable author of the three previous volumes of The Fighting Tigers, passes the official historian’s torch to Rabalais in a compelling foreword that emphasizes the significance of the Tigers’ recent run of success. To many die-hard Tiger fans, LSU football is a religion all its own. With The Fighting Tigers, 1993–2008, Rabalais has written the next book of its bible.