Kirkus Reviews QR Code
1776 by Karen Kostyal

1776

A New Look at Revolutionary Williamsburg

by Karen Kostyal & photographed by Lori Epstein Renda

Pub Date: Oct. 1st, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4263-0517-7
Publisher: National Geographic

Renda’s bright color photographs of a squeaky-clean Colonial Williamsburg—the living history museum—belie the serious intent of this fine volume, which portrays 18th-century Williamsburg as more of a multicultural and fluid society than previously thought. Though the popular image of the gentry with their powdered wigs and fancy houses is true, so is the fact that over half of the city’s population was slaves, “with families, traditions, and dreams of their own.” The photo-essay is a clearly written and concise portrait of revolutionary Williamsburg, determined not to leave African Virginians, Indians and women out of the picture. The straightforward presentation, brief chapters and vivid photographs, along with a look at recent archaeological discoveries, make this an important volume for libraries and classrooms. A more extensive bibliography, especially with materials for young readers, would be useful, but this is another fine work in the “A New Look at” series, which includes the excellent 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving, by Catherine O’Neill Grace and Margaret M. Bruchac, with photographs by Sisse Brimberg and Cotton Coulson (2001). (Nonfiction. 8-12)