Yea, Alabama! A Rare Glimpse into the Personal Diary of the University of Alabama (Volume 2 - 1871 through 1901)

The University of Alabama (UA) is one of the most prominent and fascinating universities in the United States. Volume One of this series explored UA's 1819 birth, its formative years, its burning by Union soldiers, and its subsequent rebirth in 1871. Volume Two introduces a number of important elements into the ongoing narrative, including: the University's continual hassle with the radical state government through 1877; a span of only seven years wherein three UA presidents either die in office or in Tuscaloosa shortly after resigning, creating a terrible period of psychological mourning that affected everyone associated with the University; the strict admission of women students, and the effect of this on the faculty, administration, and the cadets; and the establishment of student-written works including a journal, a newspaper, and a yearbook. The volume also looks at the history of unofficial student sports dating from the 1870s and the official birth in 1892 of a school-sanctioned athletic program for football and baseball, the germ of what would eventually be named the Crimson Tide, including the first twelve rocky years of the program. It also explores the successful 1900 Student Rebellion against the military style of student government, a rebellion that would rock the very soul of the school, involving the state press, the legislature, the governor, the alumni, and the citizens of Alabama, and which witnessed the fall of the commandant and eventually of the president, thus wrenching the students out of their fluctuating but often sorrowful psychological state of mind into an ever-evolving psychology and experience of success.

About the Author :
David M. Battles is an independent American Studies scholar in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He holds three degrees from the University of Alabama, including an MA in American Studies. His other books include The History of Public Library Access for African Americans in the South, Or, Leaving Behind the Plow and Making Her Own Place, the story of Dottie Rambo's contributions to gospel music, and Yea, Alabama! A Peek into the Past of One of the Most Storied Universities in the Nation: The University of Alabama (Volume 1 – 1819 through 1871). Mr Battles has also written and arranged songbooks for piano, voice, and guitar, as well as several children's musicals and ten children's piano method books.

Review :
'Vance (Alabama) native and University of Alabama graduate, David M. Battles, is enjoying the best of both worlds today. Besides getting the opportunity to utilize his extensive research and writing skills, he is also telling the story of the school that is near and dear to his heart - in a unique, informative, and intriguing fashion. [...] The books are very readable for high school age through the best scholars, and is replete ... with thousands of footnotes. In his series, Battles also dissolves a lot of myths about the University... and tells his readers what really happened omitting no interesting detail.'Druid Cities Living, Vol. 3, Issue 10 (2016)'I can highly recommend David Battles as a true adventurer into the vast historical visage that has laid claim onto The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa since he began his research through the maze of long forgotten notes of meetings, people, times, social mores and recreants of generations so long ago forgotten and thought to be buried forever beneath mounds of crumbling, decaying stacks of papers blatantly stating the opinions and decisions made by leaders who though so well respected and thought in high regard as university leaders, community as well as state leaders were in fact so mistaken and misguided by social norms and customs so strongly ingrained in their own social and educational development that many people thought these decisions that left their marks on future generations of students who innocently came as young men and women seeking the truth but found shadows of lies and untruth in every aspect they turned toward. Only now has someone like David spent hours upon hours searching through the tombs of archive material that has mainly been left to rot, decay, and dissolve into barely readable sludge from moldy shelves to search out the truths that lay for ages buried in the long ago glory days of our Southern Heritage.'Charlene Luckie-Coburn, M.Ed, D.Ed