THE VIRGINIA COLONY

by Elswyth Thane ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 29, 1969

A portrait of colonial Virginia as a besieged (by Indians) settlement and a tidewater aristocracy, laced with bywords better laid by (""savages"" for hostile Indians) and attitudes better abandoned (""the company began to improve the quality of the people it sent out to America"" -- which is ridiculously ambiguous anyhow). If, as generally recognized, the most notable aspects of the colony's history after its secure establishment were northern and western expansion and the development of a strong representative assembly, this is no reflection of the state or affairs: westward expansion is represented by referrals to Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett (in Virginia!), omitting all mention of Scotch-Irish, Germans, etc; much less is said about the significance of the assembly at its start (or later) than about the almost simultaneous arrival of a shipload of women. And the third event that fixes 1619 in every schoolchild's mind -- the arrival of the first slaves -- occupies one exonerating paragraph. Which is also the only attention to the people who, by the time of the Revolution, made up approximately half of Virginia's population. Inadequate is too inadequate a word.

Pub Date: Sept. 29, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Crowell-Collier

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1969

Categories: NONFICTION