Riotbeard

I am not sure where timothy tyson is but he is an obvious choice, peniel joseph is another no brainer for black power. I am not too familiar with the literature, but look at the prominent books and figure out where the authors are. Definitely apply to school where peniel joseph teaches. Keep your search within black power generally, that is focused enough for looking an advisor. If they work on the black panthers, all the better, but it does not have to be that focused.

I agree with Sparky. You should think of it as worse case scenario I am teaching at a private high school (which, for me at least, would be better than the vast majority of other occupations). That being said, be driven. Go to conference, work on a topic that you think has a good chance of being published. Be strategic in how you choose you dissertation topic. And make connections along the way. With the job market (and grad school acceptance market for that matter) as it is, be glad to have a spot, but think strategically about your dissertation and possible articles, etc. Pay attention to the theoretical currants of your field.

I mean sure, if you read something and go "Oh what is this about?" you stop skimming for a little bit. If I find a bit of info that may be pertinent to my research, etc., I don't keep skimming for the sake of sticking to my guns. But as an overall approach, I think what I proposed is very helpful. Early on, the reading load can seem very daunting, and this will help you plow through works while getting used to the demands of grad school. You have so much to read in grad school that you need to have a method (whatever works best for you obviously), and the most important thing is to get the argument, especially for the sake of class discussion. I definitely read slower for books that are pertinent to my M.A. Thesis, although even here some skimming is required.

Also, anybody interested in Slavery needs to read Walter Johnson- Soul by Soul: Life in the Antebellum Slave Market

Ok, I am in my last semester of coursework of my PhD (2nd year). General readings important to historiography: Carlo Ginzburg- The Cheese and the Worms (I read this the summer before I started Grad School) Michel Foucault- Discipline and Punish E. P. Thompson- The Making of the English Work Class Michael Sappol- A Traffic in Dead Bodies (is a great work of cultural history, but may be more applicable to Americanists) Eugen Genovese- Roll Jordan Roll: The World the Slaves made John D'Emilio- Sexual Politics, Sexual Communites Richard Hofstadter- The Age of Reform David Brion Davis- The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution Ivan Hannaford- Race: The History of an Idea in the West For the most part, these are books I would suggest to anyone of any field, because they use interesting theory or have great prose, etc. For Americanists: Winthrop Jordan- White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550-1812 C. Vann Woodward- Origins of the New South or Strange Career of Jim Crow Lawrence Goodwyn- The Populist Moment George Fredrickson- The Black Image in the White Mind or Racism: A Short history Lizbeth Cohen- Making a New Deal Ann Fabian- The Skull Collectors Charles Rosenberg- The Cholera Years or The Care of Strangers Eric Foner- Reconstruction W. E. B. DuBois- The Souls of Black Folk William Dusinberre- Them Dark Days (Great Challenge to Roll Jordan Roll) Edmund Morgan- Slave Counterpoint These were what came to mind from staring at my book shelf for 15 minutes

So apparently I answered this in the wrong thread but... Read the intro word for word. Then read the first paragraph of every chapter and the first sentence of every paragraph. This was day one grad school info. you are looking for argument, not content... Oh and I am finishing my second year of my PhD program, and am in my last semester of coursework.

Read the intro word for word. Then read the first paragraph of every chapter and the first sentence of every paragraph. This was day one grad school info. you are looking for argument, not content...

About a book day and maybe some articles (You will get used to this). As far as pages... 700-1500 pages a week. I have had some weeks where it was probably over 2000 pages, but just a handful.

Also, I don't know the diferences in funding, but because Northwestern is private, I would imagine it is much better. Don't underestimate how much of an impact, less service and better funding can have on both your happiness and time to exicute quailty work.

Genesisy: Go to Northwestern. That is the logical choice. I think that is the only honest advice anyone can give you from the outside, but you do need to make the decision for yourself.

Antebellum U.S. medicine. Particularly how medical and scientific discourse construct race and how this affected plantation medicine.

My impression is that it is very, very good, but to be fair, I don't do that type of history of science.

You can also look for a survey of the field type essay on JSTOR to get a list of names to look up and see where they are professors.

At the end of the day, its about where you will be happier and can reach your potential. Since I have never been to either, my superficial gut reaction is OSU because its name recognition in history is much bigger, but you need to go where YOU can produce the best work. So for the name only OSU.

Yes it is. One of my favorite authors.

OP: If you are doing legal history, I think you would probably be in a solid position on the job market if you got your PhD from any institution (this obviously assumes you do well in grad school), because your JD and technical expertise would be so strong. One of my undergrad professors got his PhD at ole miss, but has a divinity degree from an Ivy, and since he is a religious historian, he did really well on the market. Unless you could not see yourself happy at Stonybrook, I would probably take it. No matter your credentials, you never know if you will get a better offer next year.

I don't have the traditional credential either, but if I were you, I would still send in an app. to at least one or two dream schools at least when you apply for the PhD. Not sure about G. Tech on this board. There aren't many sci/tech/med people here that I know about.

Hopkins and MIT have a large 20th cent. big science people in their history of sci/tech/med departments.

It's still early for results. As far as languages are concerned, unless you are in a SUPER-international field, they are by no means the be all, end all.

No easy answer. If grad school is the dream and you get good funding from UC-SB, you really should consider it. All it takes is one admit to get you on your career path, and it would be nice to say there are plenty more opportunities for grad school down the road, but NOBODY can guarantee that for you, plus instanbul will always be there... but if you don't get funding...

I work on history of medicine, but you should check out MIT, Vandy, Hopkins, Stanford, Upenn. At least those seem somewhat obvious to me. What kind of stuff do you work on?

UNC has a pretty big military history contigent, and gary galliger at UVA is a military historian.

File cabinet, what, what? Other than that folders (digital and physical)...

As someone already in a program, the answers to your questions beyond decision date are not really going to be public knowledge. Chicago is a pretty huge program. I think they usually admit around 30-50 people per year and that is probably out of some where in between 500-1000 applicants. I know where I go, we have been in the past two years getting record numbers of applicants (related to the recession), and most schools have generally less spots available, so this is probably also true at Chicago.

Small Chrome messenger bag, Rain Jacket (pretty much essential if you bike a lot in the unpredictable new orleans weather), bottle or two water (also essential for the new orleans biker), bottle opener, i-pod, and really nothing else that isn't a standard carry for a grad student, no computer though unless I am on a research trip. I have yet to join the paper less world... I think the biggest theme for my stuff is water proof.