In the New Dominion Virginia 1970-present part two, we look at four ways the Virginia cultural landscape changed, with the G.I. Bill in “Soldiers to Citizens”, with the growth of suburbia in “Crabgrass Frontier”, with regionalizing by automobile and trucks in “Divided Highways”, and state resource management with “The Oyster Question”. Modern social history is updated with “Virginia Hasn’t Always Been for Lovers”, and “LGBT Hampton Roads”. Six additional titles are noted in a bibliography on Virginia’s cultural landscape and its natural resources.
For more book reviews at TheVirginiaHistorian.com in this historical era addressing other topics, see the webpage for Gilded Age, New South, Civil Rights, New Dominion (1889-present). General surveys of Virginia History can be found at Virginia History Surveys. Other Virginia history divided by topics and time periods can be found at the webpage Books and Reviews.
These titles are all used in bibliographies found in surveys of Virginia history of scholarly merit that are currently used in Virginia university history departments. Additional insights are used from articles in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, the Journal of Southern History and the Journal of American History.
Soldiers to Citizens
Suzanne Mettler wrote Soldiers to Citizens: The G.I. Bill and the Making of the Greatest Generation in 2005. It is now available on Kindle and online new and used. After interviewing over fifteen hundred of the WWII generation born in the 1910s and 1920s, Mettler determined that the G.I. Bill had a substantial effect on veteran’s civic involvement beyond educational attainments. The cash allowances were equivalent to 50-70 percent of gainful employment, in contrast to today’s social programs.
The American Legion was influential in securing the generous allowances and inclusiveness. The programs were well administered, giving the veterans a positive experience with government services. They were inclusive, embracing large numbers and a diversity of socio-economic groups. Black beneficiaries were more likely participants in civil rights protests, marches and demonstrations.
Learn more to buy “Soldiers to Citizens” at Amazon.com for your bookshelf.
Crabgrass Frontier
Kenneth T. Jackson wrote Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States in 1985. It is now available on Kindle and new in paperback online. From the early 1800s to the 1980s, changing modes of transportation transform the city and create the suburbs. They changed from the place of the poor living within walking distance to the inner city, expanding to regions where the more wealthy could afford the transit fares of horse cars, trolleys and electric trains.
Jackson discusses the nineteenth century promoters of the suburban ideal and twentieth century developers. He analyzes the politics of municipal planning and annexation, along with changing construction methods and land prices. He points out federal government encouragement through policies of the Home Owners Loan Corporation and the Federal Housing Administration of the New Deal, and later the GI Bill home loans and Internal Revenue Service tax breaks.
Learn more to buy “Crabgrass Frontier” at Amazon.com for your bookshelf.
Divided Highways
Tom Lewis wrote Divided Highways: Building the Interstate Highways, Transforming American Life in 1997. It is available on Kindle and online in paperback. The 1956 legislation authorizing a 41,000-mile system of Interstate and Defense Highways assured the dominance of highways and automobiles to the neglect of railroads and urban mass transit. The “highway men” of automobile manufacturers, oil companies, auto-user associations and highway construction companies formed a nationwide interest group to promote the project.
While expanding interstate commerce, the system also brought the rise of a suburbia impacting central cities, geographic divides along racial, ethnic and class lines, and rising highway traffic congestion.
Learn more to buy “Divided Highways” at Amazon.com for your bookshelf.
*Christopher Silver wrote Twentieth-Century Richmond: Planning, Politics, and Race in 1984. It is out of print but available online new and used. Learn more to buy “Twentieth Century Richmond” at Amazon.com for your bookshelf.
*Christopher Silver and John V. Moeser wrote The Separate City: Black Communities in the Urban South, 1940–1968 in 1995. It is out of print but available online new and used. Learn more to buy “The Separate City” at Amazon.com for your bookshelf.
*Richard A. Brisbin wrote A Strike Like No Other Strike: Law and Resistance during the Pittston Coal Strike of 1889–1990 in 2002. It is now available at the West Virginia University Press and online new and used. Learn more to buy “A Strike Like No Other Strike” at Amazon.com for your bookshelf.
The Oyster Question
Christine Keiner wrote The Oyster Question: Scientists, Watermen, and the Maryland Chesapeake Bay Since 1880 in 2009. It is now available from the University of Georgia Press and online new and used. During the 1884-1885 oyster season, Maryland watermen harvested 15,000,000 bushels; in 2004-2005 it was 26,500. One narrative describes the “tragedy of the commons” brought on by industry self-interested over-harvesting. An alternative story depicts unrealistic scientific management ignoring traditional waterman lore that had restricted size and mechanization of the harvest.
Keiner emphasizes the importance of local government protection and promotion of the oyster beds and their use. Oysters have been reduced to a symbol of Chesapeake ecosystem health rather than the basis of a viable full time occupation.
Learn more to buy “The Oyster Question” at Amazon.com for your bookshelf.
*Steven G. Davison et al. wrote Chesapeake Waters: Four Centuries of Controversy, Concern, and Legislation, 2d ed., rev. in 1997. It is out of print but available online new and used. Learn more to buy “Chesapeake Waters” at Amazon.com for your bookshelf.
*Margaret T. Peters wrote Conserving the Commonwealth: The Early Years of the Environmental Movement in Virginia in 2008. It is out of print but available online. Learn more to buy “Conserving the Commonwealth” at Amazon.com for your bookshelf.
*Will Sarvis wrote The Jefferson National Forest: An Appalachian Environmental History in 2011. It is available from the University of Tennessee Press and online new and used. Learn more to buy “Jefferson National Forest” at Amazon.com for your bookshelf.
Virginia Hasn’t Always Been for Lovers
Phyl Newbeck wrote Virginia Hasn’t Always Been for Lovers: Interracial Bans and the Case of Richard and Mildred Loving in 2004. It is now available on Kindle and new in paperback. This book offers much fresh material from participants in the court challenges to miscegenation laws including Virginia’s Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving, as well as couples in Nevada, Arizona and Mississippi.
Richard and Mildred Loving married in 1958 and were convicted of their marriage in 1959. While accepting exile from Virginia for twenty-five years, they began court proceedings against the state of Virginia in 1963, which eventually led to a Supreme Court victory in 1967 overturning the anti-miscegenation law. Two years later, Virginia adopted the promotional slogan, “Virginia is for Lovers”.
Learn more to buy “Virginia Hasn’t Always Been for Lovers” on Amazon.com for your bookshelf.
LGBT Hampton Roads
Ford, Charles, and Jeffrey L. Littlejohn wrote LGBT Hampton Roads in 2016. It is now available on Kindle and online new and used. Virginia’s Hampton Roads has attracted a diverse and mobile population, especially after World War II. By mid-20th century, the Hampton Roads led the state of Virginia in LGBT institutions and infrastructure.
In the late 1980s into the 1990s, the HIV/AIDS epidemic compounded by military crackdowns devastated LGBT leadership. By the 21st century, there was a renewal of networking and an annual Pride Festival centered at Town Point Park in Norfolk.
Learn more to buy “LGBT Hampton Roads” on Amazon.com for your bookshelf.