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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Late Colonial Virginia – VMHB 2009-11
In this Virginia History Blog, we explore the evolution of religious freedom surveying Virginia history “From Jamestown to Jefferson”. Virginia colonial history and environment is surveyed from pre-contact to the Age of Jefferson in “Nature and History in the Potomac Country”. The rise and decline of the Early Colonial gentry in the Late Colonial period...
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Early Colonial Era – 2009-2011
To begin this Virginia History Blog on the Early Colonial Era, we look at first landing settlements. “A Kingdom Strange” explores the settlement of the Lost Colony of Roanoke. “Pocahontas, Little Wanton” documents early English accounts, verifiable history and subsequent narratives, plays and pictures. “The Web of Empire” places the Virginia colony initially as a...
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Colonial Virginia Era – Summer 2018
In our first Virginia History Blog installment of Colonial Virginia Era history from Summer 2018 journals, we look at four titles. “For God, King, and People” distinguishes between the Renaissance mindset of the early Virginia investors and venturers and the anachronistic interpretation of commercialism. “Jamestown, the Truth Revealed” is an update of archeological and historical...
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Modern Virginia Culture
In this Virginia History Blog, we review titles related to Virginia Modern Culture in architecture, art and education. “The Architecture of William Lawrence Bottomley” looks at his work in Virginia and New York. “Legacy: Walter Chrysler Jr.” describes the development and expansion of Norfolk’s Chrysler Museum of Art. “From VPI to State University” documents the...
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New South and Modern Local History
In this third Virginia History Blog in a series of four on Civil Rights and Modern Virginia, — political, gender, local and cultural – we look at local history. Moving east to west, we begin with “The Pentagon” located in Arlington. “Roanoke” and “Sustaining Identity” (Luray) are in the Great Valley. In Appalachia we look...
Mid-19th to Mid-20th Century Gender History
In this second Virginia History Blog in a series of four on Civil Rights and Modern Virginia — political, gender, local and cultural – we look at gender history, beginning with “The Reconstruction of White Southern Womenhood” addressing three generations in the mid to late 19th century and “Women Shaping the South”, a view of...
Civil Rights and Modern Virginia
In this Virginia History Blog, we begin with “Virginia in the Vanguard”, a look at political leadership over the last 20 years of the 20th century and “Global Perspectives” investigates the economic development of the South through the 19th and 20th centuries. “A Class of Their Own” examines black educational history over the century of...
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New South and Civil Rights – Spring 2018
In this Virginia History Blog, we look at recent journal reviews concerning the New South and Civil Rights eras. “The Dooley’s of Richmond” charts the business, commercial and philanthropic achievements of two generations from 1836 to 1922. “The Uplift Generation” examines the interracial efforts of whites and blacks to achieve greater equality for blacks in a...
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Civil War Era memory
In this five-part review of Civil War Era literature at the Virginia History Blog, we will take a look at period topics in politics, war commands, home front, economy, slavery and memory. Turning to memory, we begin with “Diehard Rebels” describing the outlook and later influence of soldiers defending the Confederacy to the end. “Burying...
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Civil War Era slavery
In this five-part review of Civil War Era literature at the Virginia History Blog, we will take a look at period topics in politics, war commands, home front, economy, slavery and memory. Turning to slavery, we begin with “The Mind of the Master Class” describing the worldview of slave holders. “The Sounds of Slavery” treats...
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