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Social Sciences

Brian Craig Miller, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of History

Educational Experience

Ph.D., History: The University of Mississippi, 2006
M.A., History: The University of Mississippi, 2002
B.A., History: The Pennsylvania State University, 2000

Courses at Emporia State University

Fall 2009: History 111 The United States to 1877 online
History 112 The United States Since 1877
History 342 The Early Republic, 1789-1848
History 540/740 Graduate Readings: Civil War America

Spring 2010: History 111 The United States to 1877 online
History 112 The United States Since 1877
History 301 Religion in American History online
History 301 Gay and Lesbian History
History 343 The Civil War Era, 1848-1877

Courses coming in 2010-11: African American History, Political Parties 1789-1896, Ulysses S. Grant, Graduate Readings in Jacksonian America

Publications

  • John Bell Hood and the Fight for Civil War Memory, in press with The University of Tennessee Press, releases March 2010.
  • The American Memory: Americans and Their History to 1877. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 2008.
    “The Reconstruction Amendments” in Brian L. Johnson and Edward J. Blum, eds., The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: 1850s-1877, releases from Manly, Inc., November 2009.
  • “‘A People’s Dream Died There:’ Shatter Zones and the Trans-Mississippi West,” Heritage of the Great Plains 39, No. 1 (Spring/Summer 2006): 30-46.
  • “Daniel W. Adams” and “William E. Baldwin,” forthcoming in the Encyclopedia of Mississippi History.


Current Research Projects

1. I am currently completing my transcribing and editing of the Civil War letters of Private Silas W. Haven, a member of the 27th Iowa Infantry, who wrote nearly 200 letters to his wife, Jane, from 1862-65. The letters include vivid descriptions of life in camp and offer tantalizing analysis from the soldier in regards to issues of religion, politics, gender and race. The collection will surely help historians understand the life of a soldier who rarely saw battle.

2. I am also currently researching my second book, tentatively entitled, Reconstructing Manhood: Women and the Experience of Confederate Amputees. Initially, this work is only exploring the Confederacy, but may eventually expand to include the Union as well. I am seeking to offer the first major study that explores what it means to lose a limb during the Civil War. How did the loss of a limb change notions of manhood and, in turn, womanhood? Did notions of dependency change? How did the reality of defeat in the war alter the meaning of physical sacrifice for the soldier and their family? Any suggestions or hints on sources you may have as I undertake this project are greatly appreciated.

20 Fun and Completely Random Facts about Brian Craig Miller

Favorite College Football Team: Penn State (and Emporia State, of course)
Favorite Professional Football Team: The Philadelphia E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles!
Favorite Music Video with a Cartoon Cat: Opposites Attract w/ Paula Abdul and M.C. Skat Cat
Favorite Places I’ve Visited: South Africa, London, New York City, Yellowstone National Park
Favorite Animal that bit me: Scarlett, the Lion Cub, from Seaview, South Africa
Favorite Animal that did not bite me: Brandy, Lexus and Shiloh, my German Shepherds growing up
Musical Artist I’ve seen the most in concert: Dolly Parton
Favorite Cracker: Cheez-Its
Least Favorite Cracker: Chicken Biscuits (Chicken flavored crackers? Yuck!)
Person from History I would like to have dinner with: Abraham Lincoln
Person from History I would NOT like to have dinner with: Alexander Hamilton
T.V. shows I watch faithfully: Ugly Betty, Weeds, The Amazing Race, Brothers and Sisters, The Graham Norton Show and Family Guy
Favorite Discontinued Kool-Aid Flavor: Purplesaurus Rex
Favorite Broadway Musicals I’ve seen: The Lion King, Wicked, Spring Awakening, Miss Saigon, Phantom
Favorite Decade: The 1980s
Favorite College Mascot Tradition: The Mini-Scoreboard in the Reveille Graveyard at Texas A&M
Least Favorite College Mascot: The Notre Dame Leprechaun (He don’t even give out cereal)
Movies I’ve seen way too many times: Clue, Gone with the Wind, Legally Blonde, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, A Bug’s Life, Star Wars and James Bond Films
Favorite Musical Artist promoting Literacy: Fergie (She spells in all her songs)
Favorite Detective: Scooby Doo

I am excited to be here at Emporia State University. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I grew up in Huntersville, PA (on a Christmas tree farm). Having lived in State College, PA, Oxford, MS and Memphis, TN, I am looking forward to teaching here in the Mid-West.

Please contact me if I can be of any assistance to you. My email is bmiller4@emporia.edu and my office, in 411B Plumb Hall, has a phone, which you can call at (620) 341-5573.

 

View my c.v.

 


 

Last Updated August 28, 2009