09/15/2013
As this book's 19th-century-style subtitle suggests, John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore (1730–1809), the last royal governor of the Colony of Virginia, had a very busy life. A well-connected Scottish peer, ambitious, and always broke, he was appointed royal governor of New York and then of Virginia. As Virginia's governor, he led formal incursions against native tribes and sought to rule without calling the House of Burgesses into session. Although he held the Virginia post throughout the war, he abandoned the colony for Britain early on in the fighting. The British later sent him to govern the Bahama Islands. David's work, based on his PhD dissertation, which tellingly did not offer the same subtitle (it was subtitled Political Culture in the British Empire, 1745–1796), shows an amazing amount of research (70 pages of notes and bibliography). The author confidently knows the period and its people, although Dunmore himself comes across as a dull, money-grubbing bumbler. VERDICT This volume will interest serious readers pursuing deeper and different studies of the American Colonial period and the revolution, but general readers may be bored. However, it complements other new titles: Glenn F. Williams's Dunmore's War: The Last Conflict of America's Colonial Era and Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy's The Men Who Lost America.—Michael O. Eshleman, Hobbs, NM
In this telling, Dunmore is no drunken fool who lost an empire nor a great emancipator. He is a man of empire, creating and caught by webs of patronage, ambition, and family. David’s deep familiarity with the historiographies of the British Empire, the American Revolution, Native America, slavery, and the family makes the book cutting-edge scholarship. His vivid writing and well-crafted plotting make it a page-turner.
When John Murray, the Earl of Dunmore, was named royal governor of Virginia in 1771, America’s revolutionary spirit was evolving from flicker to flame.... David’s book provides a rich look at the man and his role in the American Revolution.
Interweaving engaging narrative episodes and analysis, James Corbett David may indeed be part of a new scholarship which restores the drama of the Revolutionary War by making it much less one-sided.
Dunmore’s New World is the best new book-length work in early American history that I have seen in more than a decade. The author’s impressive new research offers a view of Revolutionary North America as revealed through the experiences of a remarkably able, knowledgeable, skillful, and deeply flawed imperial operative.
"Rather than provide a traditional, detailed biography, David has attempted to provide a broader perspective on the twilight of British colonial America through the career of one of its more reviled agents. In that, he has spectacularly succeeded."
In this telling, Dunmore is no drunken fool who lost an empire nor a great emancipator. He is a man of empire, creating and caught by webs of patronage, ambition, and family. David’s deep familiarity with the historiographies of the British Empire, the American Revolution, Native America, slavery, and the family makes the book cutting-edge scholarship. His vivid writing and well-crafted plotting make it a page-turner.
" Dunmore’s New World is the best new book-length work in early American history that I have seen in more than a decade. The author’s impressive new research offers a view of Revolutionary North America as revealed through the experiences of a remarkably able, knowledgeable, skillful, and deeply flawed imperial operative. "Robert M. Calhoon, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, author of Dominion and Liberty: Ideology and the Anglo-American World, 1660–1801
"Interweaving engaging narrative episodes and analysis, James Corbett David may indeed be part of a new scholarship which restores the drama of the Revolutionary War by making it much less one-sided. "Andrew O’Shaughnessy, Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello, author of The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire
"In this telling, Dunmore is no drunken fool who lost an empire nor a great emancipator. He is a man of empire, creating and caught by webs of patronage, ambition, and family. David’s deep familiarity with the historiographies of the British Empire, the American Revolution, Native America, slavery, and the family makes the book cutting-edge scholarship. His vivid writing and well-crafted plotting make it a page-turner. "author of William & Mary Quarterly
"When John Murray, the Earl of Dunmore, was named royal governor of Virginia in 1771, America’s revolutionary spirit was evolving from flicker to flame.... David’s book provides a rich look at the man and his role in the American Revolution. "author of Richmond Times-Dispatch
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"Rather than provide a traditional, detailed biography, David has attempted to provide a broader perspective on the twilight of British colonial America through the career of one of its more reviled agents. In that, he has spectacularly succeeded."
"Benjamin G. Scharff, Mercyhurst University
Interweaving engaging narrative episodes and analysis, James Corbett David may indeed be part of a new scholarship which restores the drama of the Revolutionary War by making it much less one-sided.
Hornaday is no longer a household name, but he is a significnt figure in conservation history. Here, Dehler (Chester Alan Arthur, 2007) provides an interesting, well-researched account of Hornaday's contributions to the field.