Welcome to the Virginia History Blog. Titles selected for book reviews are taken from the bibliographies of scholarly, peer reviewed Virginia history surveys. Titles related to the topic and recent publications by authors are also included.
Additional books are chosen from those reviewed in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, the Journal of Southern History and the Journal of American History.
After the books are reviewed in the Blog, they are redistributed among historical eras at The Virginia Historian.com: (1) Early and Late Colonial 1600-1763, (2) Revolution-Constitutional-New Nation 1750-1824, (3) Antebellum, Civil War-Reconstruction 1820-1883, (4) Gilded Age, New South, 20th Century 1880-present.
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Reconstruction Virginia, 2009-11 titles
In this Virginia History Blog on Reconstruction Virginia, we look at the aftermath of the Civil War conflict. Nation Building in Reconstruction Virginia. “Wars within a War” describes the controversy and conflict that emerged after the end of regular army hostilities. “This Republic of Suffering” accounts for how the survivors of the Civil War carnage...
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Civil War Battles in Virginia, 2009-11 titles
In this Virginia History Blog on Civil War Battles, we consider Prosecution of the Civil War in Virginia. Accounts of the ferocity during the Civil War are related in “A Savage Conflict” describing guerilla war perpetrated on both sides, and “Haunted by Atrocity” describes conditions in Civil War prison camps. Two titles are from the...
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Civil War Virginia, 2009-11
In this Virginia History Blog, we examine titles related to the Civil War in Virginia. Confederate Army in Virginia. “The American Civil War” is a military history of the conflict, “The View From the Ground” relates the soldier experience, and “Why Confederates Fought” explores family and nation in Civil War Virginia. Virginia and Virginians. The...
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Civil War Crisis titles, 2009-11
In this Virginia History Blog on the onset of the Civil War, we examine the run-up to secession in “Year of Meteors” portending dire omens at the 1860 Presidential Election, and “Age of Strict Construction” showing the growth of federal power that Lincoln stood to inherit. “Fragile Fabric of Union” addresses the origins of the...
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Antebellum Society, 2009-11
In this Virginia History Blog, we look at elements of the Virginia Antebellum society. Progress in a slave society is examined in “Railroads in the Old South”. White male culture is explored in “Military Education and the Emerging Middle Class” and in Brothers of a Vow” about secret fraternal orders. The slaveholder’s perspective of slavery...
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Antebellum Literature and Thought, 2009-11
In this Virginia History Blog on five titles related to Antebellum literature and thought, we begin by looking at “The Origins of Proslavery Christianity” that documents developments among Virginia’s white and black evangelicals from colonial times into the antebellum period. “Religion and the Making of Nat Turner’s Virginia” develops the conflicts within its white and...
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Civil War, Summer 2018
In this Virginia History Blog on four Civil War titles, we review “On to Petersburg” about the Overland Campaign in Virginia, “Midnight in America” concerning soldiers dreams and their interpretations, “Sex and the Civil War” on the introduction of pornography to the army and its opposition, and “Stepdaughters of History” about Southern women who were...
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Antebellum Civil War, Summer 2018
In this Virginia History Blog, we look at five titles on the Antebellum Civil War Era. “A Nation Without Borders” studies the international setting in an age of 19th century civil wars. “Luxurious Citizens” addresses the politics of consumption in the 1800s. “Owning Ideas” considers the development of intellectual property. Before “Dred Scott” analyzes American...
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New Nation Diplomacy and War, 2009-11
In this Virginia History Blog on New Nation Diplomacy and War, two titles are about diplomacy. “Revolutionary Negotiations” traces American diplomacy relating to the European Westphalia system from the Continental Congress through the “Jackson Doctrine” to the Monroe Doctrine. “Borderlines and Borderlands” addresses Madison’s belief that the law of nations entitled the U.S. to acquire...
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New Nation Era, 2009-11
In this Virginia History Blog, we look at two titles relating to citizenship and constitution making, a legal history, and two biographies of early antislavery Virginians. “The Citizen Revolution” shows the change from “subjects” to “citizens. “Ratification” describes the debates set before the public in the state Federal Conventions. “Aggressive Nationalism” shows economic policy of...
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