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Few slogans occupy a more prominent place in popular mythology about the frontier than the exhortation, "Go west, young man, and grow up with the country." Despite its enduring popularity, surprisingly little scholarly attention has been devoted to probing the constellation of ideas about movement, place, masculinity, and social mobility that is captured in this short phrase. This dissertation explores how, in the decades between the War of 1812 and the Civil War, Americans began to think and write about the possibilities for "growing up" with new cities, towns, and agricultural communities on the frontier. Although politicians, newspaper editors, booster theorists, and popular authors figure prominently in this story, no group did more to construct and promote this masculine, entrepreneurial, and place-centered vision of the frontier than young men from middle-class backgrounds who migrated to new states and territories in the trans-Appalachian West during the second quarter of the nineteenth century. In their diaries, letters, travel narratives, and pioneer memoirs, these migrants generated an unprecedented volume of writing about the possibilities for financial, social, and professional mobility in a new country. Their writing not only shaped popular perceptions of frontier opportunity in their own time; it also left an indelible mark on historical memory of westward expansion in nineteenth-century America.This study begins by examining how aspiring merchants, lawyers, farmers, land speculators, and other young men used personal writing to survey the geography of opportunity in the trans-Appalachian West. As they searched for valuable real estate or an advantageous place to settle, many began their reconnaissance by writing letters to peers, relatives, and business associates, requesting personalized intelligence about conditions in particular frontier settlements. Not content to rely on second-hand reportage, some set out on prospecting journeys, traveling great distances to purchase land or investigate opportunities in the many new towns and villages springing up throughout the nation's interior. During their journeys, prospectors used travel diaries and letters to collect and synthesize geographical intelligence, and to relay their findings to family members or business partners who were implicated in their decisions about relocation or speculation. All of this evaluative writing helped usher in a new conception of the frontier as a landscape of discrete places--cities, towns, and counties--whose relative advantages and future prospects could be assessed and compared with great precision.In the months or years after they settled down in emerging towns or agricultural districts, young migrants used a variety of novel writing practices to assert their commitment to their adopted homes, and to fashion themselves as community builders. Some composed boosterish letters to family and friends, speculating about their own prospects and the prospects of their chosen abode. Others produced elaborate narratives of their migration experiences, chronicling the meandering westward journeys that led them to their new place of residence. In the late nineteenth century, many of these antebellum migrants also produced pioneer memoirs, a new type of personal narrative that wove together the story of their own financial, social, and professional striving with the history of their towns, counties, and states. Through their letters, migration narratives, and reminiscences, they constructed and popularized a new image of the pioneer as a young man who moved west, found a permanent home, and grew up with the country. As the later chapters of this dissertation will show, this vision of pioneer masculinity exaggerated some aspects of their experiences and obscured many others. Nevertheless, it became a central part of frontier mythology for many generations to come.

I propose a new way for thinking about the decisions that cities make to improve the quality of life for their citizens. I argue that cities differ in the amount of civic capital they possess. Cities with more civic capital are better able to make quality‐of‐life decisions than cities with less civic capital. I test this argument by providing measures of civic capital and quality‐of‐life resolutions, alike, and by analyzing the differences among five major cities. The final test, which assesses the impact of civic capital on quality‐of‐life resolutions over a long span of years, uncovers a strong and decisive relationship between civic capital and quality‐of‐life resolutions: where there is an increase in civic capital there is a somewhat later increase as well in the number of quality‐of‐life resolutions made by cities.

"This text provides a practical, hands-on introduction to data conceptualization, measurement, and association through active learning. Students get step-by-step instruction on data analysis using the latest version of SPSS and the most current General Social Survey data. The text starts with an introduction to computerized data analysis and the social research process, then walks users through univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analysis using SPSS. The book contains applications from across the social sciences-sociology, political science, social work, criminal justice, health-so it can be used in courses offered in any of these departments. The Eleventh Edition uses the latest general Social Survey (GSS) data, and the latest available version of SPSS. The GSS datasets now offer additional variables for more possibilities in the demonstrations and exercises within each chapter"--

"A Guide to R for Social and Behavioral Science Statistics is a short, accessible book for learning R. This handy guide contains basic information on statistics for undergraduates and graduate students, shown in the R statistical language using RStudio. The book is geared toward social and behavioral science statistics students, especially those with no background in computer science. Written as a companion book to be used alongside a larger introductory statistics text, the text follows the most common progression of statistics for social scientists. The guide also serves as a companion for conducting data analysis in a research methods course or as a stand-alone R and statistics text. This guide can teach anyone how to use R to analyze data, and uses frequent reminders of basic statistical concepts to accompany instructions in R to help walk students through the basics of learning how to use R for statistics"--

Unique in its integration of theory and application, this comprehensive book explains survey design, implementation, data analysis, and continuing data management, including how to effectively incorporate the latest technology (e.g., SurveyMonkey and Qualtrics). Data management and analysis are demonstrated and explained through statistical software including SPSS, SAS, and STATA. In addition to helping students develop a complete understanding of survey research from start to finish, the authors also address the challenges and issues of specific disciplines.