MSL Academic Endeavors eBooks

MSL Academic Endeavors is the publishing imprint of the Michael Schwartz Library at Cleveland State University.

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Housing Dynamics in Northeast Ohio: Setting the Stage for Resurgence

Thomas E. Bier

The book presents an overview of regional housing dynamics and consequent impacts in Northeast Ohio since the 1940s. Focus is on the city of Cleveland and its host county. Dynamics are examined in terms of supply and demand, population movement, lifespan of buildings, and the influence of government on the choices people have when considering where to live. Impacts include housing decline and abandonment, change in property value, and urban sprawl. Recommendations, centered on tax-base growth sharing, are presented for altering existing dynamics to support Northeast Ohio’s resurgence.
The Van Sweringen Developments in Cleveland: A Senior Thesis on the Van Sweringens

Joseph G. Blake

The Van Sweringen Developments in Cleveland: A Senior Thesis was submitted by Joseph G. Blake in May 1968 to the History Department of the University of Notre Dame, Indiana in partial fulfillment for a Bachelor of Arts Degree. It examines the Van Sweringen Developments in Cleveland, Shaker Heights, and the Cleveland Terminal development.
The History of the Cleveland Nazis: 1933 - 1945

Michael Cikraji

During Cleveland’s Great Depression grew the first seeds of American Nazism. The city fostered an explicitly Nazi German-American Bund, a covert Silvershirt Legion detachment and prominent diplomatic agents from the Third Reich. Festooned with photos and meticulously documented, this book examines the timeless questions of American allegiance, the responsibilities of democratic governance, the security threats of “Un-American” activities, and the passions, motivations and dreams of American immigrants. In the most unlikely of places, here is a case-study true story of the fascinating, bewildering and terrifying rise of American Nazism.
Plain Dealing: Cleveland Journalists Tell Their Stories

Dave Davis and Joan Mazzolini

“Plain Dealing” is a book of essays by 25 accomplished Cleveland-area journalists. It’ a book of stories, many never told before. It’s a first-person account of journalism in Cleveland, life in the newsroom, the issues and events these journalists covered, and the characters they worked with and met.

The stories begin in the 1950s and go up to 2013, covering the post-World War II era through the days when Cleveland was a three daily newspaper city, then two, then one. The book ends with the mass layoffs and resulting decline that ushered in "digital-first" age.
Introduction to Writing in College

Melanie Gagich

This book was created not only to help students entering Cleveland State University’s College Writing sequence save money on textbooks, but also to introduce my course, university resources, and common college writing genres.
A Guide to Rhetoric, Genre, and Success in First-Year Writing

Melanie Gagich and Emilie Zickel

This book combines the Introduction to Writing in College by Melanie Gagich and ENG 102: Reading, Writing and Research by Emilie Zickel, which were both supported by Cleveland State University's 2017 Textbook Affordability Small Grant.
The Robert E. Gard Reader : To Change the Face of America, From Writings by Robert E. Gard

Robert E. Gard, Maryo Gard Gard Ewell, and LaMoine MacLaughlin

This Reader draws from the works of Robert E. Gard, professor at the University of Wisconsin, Extension. His chief areas of activity were in the theatre arts and in creative writing, with a strong side activity in collecting and publishing the folklore of the state. He established the functional area of arts development under University Extension and remained a specialist in the arts in smaller communities and rural areas.
Between Spires and Stacks

Charles Hendry and Margaret T. Svendsen

Between Spires and Stacks is a hard-to-find 1936 classic examination of juvenile welfare in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood. Written by Charles E. Hendry and Margaret T. Svendsen, and published by the Welfare Federation of Cleveland, it is presented here with the generous permission of the Center for Community Solutions, the Federation’s successor. We thank the Grasselli Library at John Carroll University for allowing us to digitize their copy of Between Spires and Stacks for this project.
Right to Vote: The 15th and 19th Amendments

Stephanie D. Hinnershitz, Shelley Rose, and Robert S. Shelton

The 15th and 19th Amendments to the US Constitution. The year 2020 will mark the anniversaries of two amendments to the US Constitution that expanded the nation’s ideas about citizenship and extended the right to vote to African American men and to women. To commemorate the ratifications of the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) and the Nineteenth Amendment (1920) to the US Constitution, the Cleveland State University history department and the Educational Service Center of Cuyahoga County will sponsor a yearlong series of events on the theme of “Suffrage: The 15th and 19th Amendments.” This book serves as an online resource, providing primary documents and links to other online primary source repositories, syllabi, schedules, lesson plans, and exercises for teachers, and papers to be presented at an academic conference scheduled for October 2020.
Cleveland Mayor Ralph J. Perk: Strong Leadership During Troubled Times

Richard Klein

This book is a tribute to one of Cleveland’s greatest leaders. Ralph J. Perk embodied the quintessential 20^th century politician. A dedicated administrator with both insight and foresight, he dedicated nearly fifty years to public service. During his six-year tenure as mayor, Cleveland went through extraordinary economic, political and social changes. The citizenry demanded strong leadership and Ralph Perk provided it. An optimistic leader with strong moral and religious convictions, he never walked away from a challenge.
Fast-Food Restaurant Industry: A Cleveland Perspective 1930-2016

Richard Klein

This writing will focus on some the major fast-food establishments that served Greater Cleveland and how they evolved over time. Emphasizes will also be placed on some of the smaller as well as larger restaurants. To lend additional clarity, this study will investigate some leading national chains whose innovations within the industry set the pace for current development.
"Let's Go Shopping at the Square" Cleveland's Leading Downtown Department Stores: A Business Legacy

Richard Klein

This book is a tribute to the eight major downtown Cleveland department stores and their many loyal customers. For over 150 years, these large stores dominated the local retail scene. They represented exciting places that not only provided a full range of goods and services all under one roof, but also, offered a special shopping adventure every time their customers visited.
The Evolution of Local Dealerships: The Backbone of the U.S. Automobile Industry

Richard Klein

The numerous business contributions made by some of the major Cleveland, OH auto dealerships over the past 130-years will be recognized in this book and how their innovative approaches towards both marketing and selling vehicles influenced the automotive industry over that same period.
The Legacy of the Pharmacy Industry: Cleveland, Ohio

Richard Klein

This book recognizes the many business contributions made by the major Cleveland, Ohio-based drugstore chains over the past two hundred years and how their highly resourceful approaches towards marketing and retailing affected the national pharmacy industry over that same period of time.
"No Water for Niggers": The Hough Riots and the Historiography of the Civil Rights Movement

Olivia Lapeyrolerie

The author, Olivia Lapeyrolerie, graduated from the University of St Andrews, located in Scotland, where she received a Master of Arts in Modern History. This publication is the thesis she submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree in January 2015. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Olivia chose to write her dissertation on the 1966 Hough Riots to learn more about her hometown.
Chinese Calligraphy and Culture: An Easy-to-Use Guide for Learners of all Ages

Huiwen Li, Han Lifen, and George Becker

Chinese Calligraphy and Culture is a concise introduction to the dazzling art form known as calligraphy. A series of step-by-step exercises enable students to become aware of calligraphy’s different styles. In particular, they will learn proper technique that leads to the writing of Regular Script (楷书/楷書).
Chinese Language Teaching Plan: Designs and Analysis

Huiwen Li, Hui Pang, and Esther Seday

This book collects twelve Chinese language teaching plans written by experienced K-12 American school teachers. The teaching plans cover the elementary through advanced language proficiency levels. Modules in each of the plans include content and topic, student status, standards, learning targets, class materials, teaching/learning methods and procedure, and learning assessment, followed with a teaching plan analysis that explains the rationale for the design, special features, and user guide. With this teaching plan book, we aim to provide some good teaching plan examples for current and student teachers.
Haymarket to the Heights: The Movement of Cleveland's Orthodox Synagogues From Their Initial Meeting Places to the Heights

Jeffrey S. Morris

This document traces the movement, growth and demise of the small neighborhood synagogues, or shuls, established by newly-arrived Eastern European Jews in the Haymarket area as they migrated to the eastern suburbs.
Arts in the Small Community: Essays and Supplements Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Arts in the Small Community: A National Plan

Robert E. Gard Foundation and Barbara J. Strauss

The Arts in the Small Community: Essays and Supplements Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of The Arts in the Small Community: A National Plan. Eight essays and fourteen supplements from the original project provide the intellectual framework and the practical exploration of empowering arts in democratic America. The 1966 version is the original National Plan, while the 2006 version includes the stirring language of the original, but recognizes all of the dramatic progress in community arts development that took place between 1966 and 2006. It was intended to be a do-it-yourself manual to help local arts activists focus their work.
The Chief Purpose of Universities: Academic Discourse and Diversity of Ideas

Michael Schwartz and William M. Bowen

Civil societies around the world today are arguably facing existential crises in political, economic, scientific, technological, religious, moral, and environmental spheres, many of which leave them politically divided and torn asunder by conflict. This manuscript makes and elucidates the assumption that universities have a primary role in shaping collective efforts at responding to this situation.
My Recollections of Old Cleveland

Warren C. Wick

My Recollections of Old Cleveland is a first person account of Cleveland’s gilded age by Warren Wick who lived it. My Recollections begins with a brief history of the Wick family coming to Cleveland from Youngstown by wagon in 1847 at a time before there were trains along with the role Wick banking interests played in Cleveland’s growing prosperity.
Cleveland State University: 50 Years

Regennia N. Williams

A hardcover edition authored by CSU alumna and Associate Professor of History Dr. Regennia Williams begins in the final days of Fenn College and journeys through the tenures of six University presidents. The book captures in words and photos the people, places and events that comprise CSU's storied history, from Fat Glenn's to the 1986 men's basketball Sweet Sixteen appearance, to Professor Jearl Walker's Flying Circus of Physics and the stunning campus transformation and much more.

Edited by John Soeder, Senior Writer, University Marketing
English 102: Reading, Research, and Writing

Emilie Zickel

This book is a remixed version of Robin Jeffrey's 2016 version of About Writing. It was created with support from the Cleveland State University Michael Schwartz Library's 2017 Textbook Affordability Small Grant