Thanks so much for choosing to read and comment upon my dissertation: DEADWEIGHT LOSS AND THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. Let me know if you have any problems opening it. Due to graduate school requirements, the first page is blank, so you will need to scroll down before you find text.

I am in the process of revising the manuscript for publication, possibly by Louisiana State University Press. I have no illusions that this will become a popular book. It contains some technical economic analysis. I would, however, like to make the economics accessible to intelligent lay people and particularly to interested historians.

So I want to know which sections are easy to follow and which sections are difficult or impossible. If you think my discussion of anything needs to be expanded, tell me. Or if you think I go on too long, tell me that as well. I am eager to hear ANY suggestions on how to improve the manuscript's readability. Please do not be inhibited about your criticism at the meeting. The last thing I need at this point is polite but insincere praise. Be vicious if you think it is warranted.

Since I was in a hurry to finish off the dissertation at the end, I never got around to writing a planned prologue and epilogue. So I have additionally attached a draft of the prologue.

A final note on typos. Anyone who has published a book will tell you that these are insidious. EMANCIPATING SLAVES, ENSLAVING FREE MEN is in its fifth printing, and I am still correcting typos that no one connected with the book seems to have noticed before. If you find one in my dissertation, please do not assume that someone else has seen it. You would be doing me a great service by noting it and bringing it to my attention.

Thanks again for your help.

Regards,
Jeff

P.S. Even though I am at the Hoover Institution, the best way to reach me at the moment still remains my address:

Jeffrey Rogers Hummel
Departments of Economics and History
Golden Gate University
P.O. Box 4644
Walnut Creek, CA 94596