TABLE OF CONTENTS
Note: Wherever possible, reviews at The Virginia Historian.com use reference material from the Journal of American History, the Journal of Southern History, and the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, to address topics of Virginia history generally, and the William and Mary Quarterly for early American scholarship.
Generally, two titles have been selected for each historical figure, one a treatment of the Virginian’s life and one focusing on a prominent chapter in that life. Internet links will connect to Amazon sites for book purchases.
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Colonial Virginia, Early and Late
Virginia’s history 1600-1763, encompasses the colonial founding and typically ends at the close of French and Indian War in 1763, or alternatively at the beginning of the American Revolution in 1775.
Sir William Berkeley
Sir William Berkeley and the Forging of Colonial Virginia (2004) by Warren M. Billings describes the central political figure in Virginia history for twenty-five years between the 1640s and 1670s. Its political culture became more decentralized by delegating powers to county magistrates. It became more independent of empire by making the General Assembly a bi-cameral legislature with its own elected Speaker and Clerk, unlike the British Parliament.
Berkeley’s failure of leadership surrounding the events of Bacon’s Rebellion and afterwards led to closer scrutiny of Virginia’s affairs and an increase in imperial control. But the political evolution of the General Assembly in Virginia during Berkeley’s tenure established precedent into the 1700s and beyond. Learn more to buy “Sir William Berkeley” for your bookshelf at Amazon.com.
Nathaniel Bacon
Torchbearer of the Revolution: the story of Bacon’s Rebellion and its leader (1940, 2005) is a scholarly account of Nathaniel Bacon’s life by Professor Thom Wertenbaker. This book is a sympathetic biography of Bacon and his rebellion as a precursor to the American Revolution, an revolt against tyrannical government preceding it by a century.
Bacon, living on the frontier quickly absorbed the orientation of an American frontiersman, while his antagonist Governor Berkeley remained a confirmed Englishman meant to exploit the colony for the Crown. The common man is described by characterizations of a fictional representative “Peter Bottom” to discuss the social and economic conditions among most Virginians of the time. Buy “Torchbearer of the Revolution” here at Amazon.com.
Tales from a Revolution: Bacon’s Rebellion and the Transformation of Early America (New Narratives in American History) (2013) by James D. Rice is a book that tells the story of a 1676 event that is simultaneously an Englishman’s civil war and an Indian War. Rice expands the horizon of his account to include Maryland and British imperial policy generally by regarding neighboring Native American tribes as central characters in the story, both as trading partners and attacking enemies. The 1600s colonial civil war reflected the dilemma that the “Englishmen” in Virginia were increasingly ruled by gentry oligarchs infringing on traditional English rights. The dilemmas facing those rulers continued to erupt into violent protest later at Josias Fendall’s uprising in 1681, the tobacco cutting riots in 1682 and Coode’s Rebellion in 1689. Buy “Tales from a Revolution” at Amazon.com here.
Revolution, Constitution and New Nation
Virginia’s history 1750-1824 spans the beginnings of the American Revolution to the end of the Virginia Dynasty of U.S. presidents and the onset of the Antebellum period.
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry: A biography (1974) by Richard R. Beeman, professor of history at Pennsylvania State University.
A Son of Thunder: Patrick Henry and the American Republic (1986, 2001) by Henry Mayer can be found in reprint as a paperback. Seen through dramatic setting and vivid quotations, Mayer’s Patrick Henry is an astute and commanding localist, who is ultimately frustrated with emerging American nationalism.
A brilliant orator, profoundly influenced by the anti-aristocratic evangelical style, Henry was more the expression of popular opinion than a creator of it, but he was crucial in mobilizing public opinion of the “out-of-doors” countrymen who ultimately populated Virginia’s regiments for the Revolution. During the Ratification Debates, Henry was instrumental in securing Constitutional guarantees ultimately found in the Bill of Rights. Buy A Son of Thunder here at Amazon.com.
Patrick Henry: First Among Patriots (2013) by Thomas S. Kidd is a patriotic history of a Founding Father who ends up rejecting the U.S. Constitution in Convention. It explores the moral and political perspectives of the Revolutionary leader who popularized “Give me liberty or give me death!” He fell in with and opposed most of the political coalitions of his time over the course of five one-year terms as governor, ending up in the 1790s among the Federalists so that he could oppose Jefferson and his Republicans.
In its early chapters it sets the scene with descriptions of the social and economic conditions of Virginia, as well as emphasizing the importance of the Great Awakening and 1700s religious climate. This is important in describing the patriot leader most like the general populace among the Virginian Founders. Henry has not left the paper trail others have favored researchers with, but Kidd brings to light sources rarely used by Patrick Henry scholars. Buy “Patrick Henry: First Among Patriots” here at Amazon.com.
Lion of Liberty: Patrick Henry and the Call to a New Nation (2011) by Harlow Giles Unger
Richard Henry Lee
Richard Henry Lee of Virginia: Portrait of an American Revolutionary was written by J. Kent McGaughy in 2004. Lee is presented as a conservative, pragmatic agent in many of the events of the American Revolution and early American republic. Opposing the interests of well-connected planters surrounding Speaker Randolph, Lee sought an independent path of personal financial independence in Northern Neck tobacco cultivation and western lands investments.
Lee’s radical political alliances among New Englanders against the Pennsylvanians and among Virginia’s Piedmont farmers against the Tidewater planters often hinged on securing legislative assistance against his economic competitors. Learn more to buy “Richard Henry Lee of Virginia” here for your bookshelf.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson: The American Presidents Series: The 3rd President, 1801-1809 (2003) Joyce Appleby and Arthur M. Schlesinger
The Mind of Thomas Jefferson (2007) by Peter S. Onuf
Jefferson and Madison: The Great Collaboration (1964, 1977, 2000, 2004, 2007) by Adrienne Koch explores a political friendship of two Founders who both were dependent upon one another for thinking through their ideas and they were aware of it over half a century of collaboration.
Jefferson was speculative and philosophical, Madison practical and astute. Both sought security of the Union, political grounding in majority government, and policies safeguarding civil liberties and self-preservation of the living. Koch plumbs their correspondence to explain how the “Jeffersonian” philosophy as it developed was actually an amalgam of their exchange of ideas. Buy Jefferson and Madison here at Amazon.com.
In What Kind of Nation: Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, and the epic struggle to create a United States (2003), James F. Simon describes the antagonisms of two Virginia men with remarkably similar backgrounds. Marshall sought a strong national government with robust executive and judicial branches.
Jefferson sought a federal sharing between central and state government sovereignties, with the Congress ascendant among the Federal branches as the most directly representative of the people. Marshall repeatedly handed Jefferson defeats, viewing the U.S. as a union of people, not a compact of states.
Despite differences, Marshall and Jefferson were both moderates within their political parties, and both avoided a showdown between the Federal executive and judicial branches. The book is aimed at an audience of educated amateur historians.
James F. Simon is the Martin Professor of Law at the New York Law School. Author of seven other books, his books on American history, law and politics have won awards from the American Bar Association and twice have been named New York Times Notable Books. Buy What Kind of Nation here at Amazon.com.
The Great Virginia Triumvirate: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the Eyes of their Contemporaries (2010) by John P. Kaminski explores three compact biographies that outline public careers and elaborate on the private demeanor and home routines that picture their daily lives and family relations.
Kaminski balances their public and private personas by admitting a range of descriptions by each man’s contemporaries, including those of one another. Topics include first impressions, views on slavery and retirement years. Buy “The Great Virginia Triumvirate” here at Amazon.com.
James Madison
James Madison (The American Presidents Series) (2002) by Gary Wills
Ralph Ketcham’s magisterial work, James Madison: A Biography (1971, 1990).
Jefferson and Madison: The Great Collaboration (1964, 1977, 2000, 2004, 2007) by Adrienne Koch explores a political friendship of two Founders who both were dependent upon one another for thinking through their ideas and they were aware of it over half a century of collaboration.
Jefferson was speculative and philosophical, Madison practical and astute. Both sought security of the Union, political grounding in majority government, and policies safeguarding civil liberties and self-preservation of the living. Koch plumbs their correspondence to explain how the “Jeffersonian” philosophy as it developed was actually an amalgam of their exchange of ideas. Buy Jefferson and Madison here at Amazon.com.
Founding friendship: George Washington, James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic (2001) by Stuart Leibiger highlights four years of American history from 1785 to 1790, a collaboration and friendship reflected in the evolving letters between the two men. Madison used Washington’s fame to bring about a Constitutional Convention and ratification among the states, especially in Virginia’s Federal Convention.
Washington became the first President as expected among both the Philadelphia and Richmond conventions, and Madison was the House of Representatives floor leader in the First Congress for Washington’s legislation and a sometime ghostwriter for Washington’s first term policies.
The two men fell out over Madison’s encouraging democratic clubs and his opposition to the Jay Treaty. Both remained moderates, Madison among the Republicans and Washington among the nationalist Federalists. Their early collaboration in internal improvements in Virginia and Madison’s continued commitment to them proved to be the undoing of Madison’s reputation in his retirement. Buy “Founding Friendship” here at Amazon.com.
The Great Virginia Triumvirate: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the Eyes of their Contemporaries (2010) by John P. Kaminski explores three compact biographies that outline public careers and elaborate on the private demeanor and home routines that picture their daily lives and family relations.
Kaminski balances their public and private personas by admitting a range of descriptions by each man’s contemporaries, including those of one another. Topics include first impressions, views on slavery and retirement years. Buy “The Great Virginia Triumvirate” here at Amazon.com.
John Marshall
John Marshall and the Heroic Age of the Supreme Court (2001) by R. Kent Newmyer is an award winning account of the relationship of law, politics and history. Marshall sought to uphold the Constitution’s nationalism against both democratic nationalism and states rights theory, using the Court’s final interpretations as bulwarks against emerging national party politics and localism.
Marshall’s interpretations were built on conservative property and contract rights principles using common law methods rather than natural rights and equity. He saw judging as incremental following precedent, extending the rule of law by analogy.
While it may be said his court helped shape a prosperous economic union, it did not rescue the U.S. from the legal, social and economic effects of contemporary slavery, nor from the social, economic and political costs of Guilded Age capitalism. Buy John Marshall and the Heroic Age of the Supreme Court here at Amazon.com.
In What Kind of Nation: Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, and the epic struggle to create a United States (2003), James F. Simon describes the antagonisms of two Virginia men with remarkably similar backgrounds. Marshall sought a strong national government with robust executive and judicial branches.
Jefferson sought a federal sharing between central and state government sovereignties, with the Congress ascendant among the Federal branches as the most directly representative of the people. Marshall repeatedly handed Jefferson defeats, viewing the U.S. as a union of people, not a compact of states.
Despite differences, Marshall and Jefferson were both moderates within their political parties, and both avoided a showdown between the Federal executive and judicial branches. The book is aimed at an audience of educated amateur historians.
James F. Simon is the Martin Professor of Law at the New York Law School. Author of seven other books, his books on American history, law and politics have won awards from the American Bar Association and twice have been named New York Times Notable Books. Buy What Kind of Nation here at Amazon.com.
James Monroe
James Monroe: The American Presidents Series: The 5th President, 1817-1825 (American Presidents Series) by Gary Hart
The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation’s Call to Greatness (2010) by Harlow Giles Unger
George Washington
Washington: A Life (2010) by Ron Chernow
George Washington (The American Presidents Series) (2004) by James MacGregor Burns and Susan Dunn. Washington’s presidential terms.
Founding friendship: George Washington, James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic (2001) by Stuart Leibiger highlights four years of American history from 1785 to 1790, a collaboration and friendship reflected in the evolving letters between the two men. Madison used Washington’s fame to bring about a Constitutional Convention and ratification among the states, especially in Virginia’s Federal Convention.
Washington became the first President as expected among both the Philadelphia and Richmond conventions, and Madison was the House of Representatives floor leader in the First Congress for Washington’s legislation and a sometime ghostwriter for Washington’s first term policies.
The two men fell out over Madison’s encouraging democratic clubs and his opposition to the Jay Treaty. Both remained moderates, Madison among the Republicans and Washington among the nationalist Federalists. Their early collaboration in internal improvements in Virginia and Madison’s continued commitment to them proved to be the undoing of Madison’s reputation in his retirement. Buy “Founding Friendship” here at Amazon.com.
The Great Virginia Triumvirate: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the Eyes of their Contemporaries (2010) by John P. Kaminski explores three compact biographies that outline public careers and elaborate on the private demeanor and home routines that picture their daily lives and family relations.
Kaminski balances their public and private personas by admitting a range of descriptions by each man’s contemporaries, including those of one another. Topics include first impressions, views on slavery and retirement years. Buy “The Great Virginia Triumvirate” here at Amazon.com.
Antebellum, Civil War, Reconstruction
Virginia’s history 1820-1883 spans the Antebellum period just before the Civl War, through Reconstruction to the Conservative “Redeeming” political control over the Old Dominion in 1883.
This section is under construction. For reviews currently available, see the webpage for this historical period, or Survey Histories of Virginia for general, political and ethnic histories.
Gilded Age, New South, 20th Century Virginia
Virginia’s history 1870-present spans the post-Reconstruction industrialization of Virginia through the 20th or American Century which brought economic growth, racial integration and a two party political system.
This section is under construction. For reviews currently available, see the webpage for this historical period, or Survey Histories of Virginia for general, political and ethnic histories.
Lewis Ginter of Richmond
Lewis Ginter: Richmond’s Gilded Age Icon (2011) by Brian Burns
The Dooleys of Richmond
The Dooleys of Richmond: An Irish Immigrant Family in the Old and New South (2017) Mary Lynn Bayliss
Thomas M. Logan: a builder of the New South
A Builder of the New South: Notes on the career of Thomas M. Logan (2011) by Lily Logan Morrill is a biography
A Kind of Fate
A Kind of Fate: Agricultural Change in Virginia, 1861-1920 (2002) by G. Terry Sharrer is an account of two generations of the same farmer family in Virginia.