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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Social Life and Social Control in Virginia 1900-1945
In our Jim Crow Virginia part three we look at Social Life and Social Control in Virginia, beginning with “Avenues of Faith” describing church adaptations to the challenges of modernization. We then turn to the Progressive Era’s efforts at social control in the private spheres of life with “Sexuality, Politics and Social Control in Virginia”,...
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Jim Crow New South Virginia part two
Part two of our Jim Crow Virginia 1900-1945 begins with “Blue Laws and Black Codes” that focuses on Virginia law as a link between social and racial conflict and change. “Making Whiteness” discusses the culture of segregation imposed after racial progress in Reconstruction. “Separate and Unequal” discusses the connection between public school campaigns and racism...
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Jim Crow New South Virginia part one
We begin our look at Jim Crow New South Virginia 1900-1945 with “Struggle for Mastery” investigating the disenfranchisement of the African American. “Managing White Supremacy” shows the role of Anglo Saxon Clubs and the redefinition of one-drop racism. “Harry Byrd” explains the forty-year dominance of the Democratic Organization under one man, while “Norfolk” surveys the...
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Gilded Age Virginia 1880-1900
We begin our blog on Gilded Age Virginia 1880-1900 with “Promise of the New South” for the non-elite amidst rapid industrialization, and “Paradox of Southern Progressivism” to explain the rise of urban upper middle class reformers, beginning with prohibition efforts in the late 1800s. “Appalachia” focuses on the predominantly white yet still bi-racial region including...
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Reconstruction in Virginia part two
In our blog on Reconstruction in Virginia part two, we begin looking at the passage of the 14th amendment in the former Confederate states in”No Easy Walk to Freedom”. The development of social, economic and political community in black Hampton, Virginia is described in “Freedom’s First Generation”. And race as a social construction is explored...
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Reconstruction in Virginia part one
We begin Reconstruction in Virginia part one with a survey of the period, 1863-1877 in “Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution”. Virginia’s Reconstruction was extended by Readjusters to 1883 as described in “Two Paths to the New South”. The politics of race in post emancipation Virginia is studied in “Before Jim Crow”. “Shattered Nation” investigates the intellectual...
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Civil War in Virginia part three
Our third blog on the Civil War in Virginia considers a biographical focus, social history and local histories during the Civil War. Starting with Confederate General “Robert E. Lee”, the review is paired with bibliographical references to five other prominent Civil War Virginians. “Southern Lady, Yankee Spy” is both biography and social history. Individual biographies are...
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Civil War in Virginia part two
In part two of Civil War in Virginia, we investigate the war issues of slavery and emancipation on both sides, Union and Confederate. In part three, we focus on Virginians and local histories of the war. We begin our look at Civil War slavery and emancipation with “Without Consent or Contract” that surveys the rise...
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Civil War in Virginia part one
We begin our first of three blogs on the Civil War in Virginia with reviews on five books in print and listing seven out of print books available online. Additional reviews on books about the Civil War are available at Antebellum, Civil War and Reconstruction under the subheading “Wars in Virginia, 1820-1883”. “Battle Cry of Freedom”...
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Secession Comes to Virginia – part two (revised)
This second revised blog on “Secession comes to Virginia” begins with a review of the “Roots of Secession” in slave-holding Virginia. “Road to Disunion” investigates the divisions among Southerners. “Apostles of Disunion” describes the appeals of the Deep South commissioners to border state secessionist conventions, “Showdown in Virginia” relates the delegate debate in convention, and...
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