Virginians and Their Histories

by Brent Tarter

Overview

Histories of Virginia have traditionally traced the same significant but narrow lines, overlooking whole swathes of human experience crucial to an understanding of the commonwealth. With Virginians and Their Histories, Brent Tarter presents a fresh, new interpretive narrative that incorporates the experiences of all residents of Virginia from the earliest times to the first decades of the twenty-first century, affording readers the most comprehensive and wide-ranging account of Virginia’s story.

Tarter draws on primary resources for every decade of the Old Dominion's English-language history, as well as a wealth of recent scholarship that illuminates in new ways how demographic changes, economic growth, social and cultural changes, and religious sensibilities and gender relationships have affected the manner in which Virginians have lived. Virginians and Their Histories interweaves the experiences of Virginians of different racial and ethnic backgrounds and classes, representing a variety of eras and regions, to understand what they separately and jointly created, and how they responded to economic, political, and social changes on a national and even global level. That large context is essential for properly understanding the influences of Virginians on, and the responses of Virginians to, the constantly changing world in which they have lived.

This groundbreaking work of scholarship—generously illustrated and engagingly written—will become the definitive account for general readers and all students of Virginia’s diverse and vibrant history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813943930
Publisher:	University of Virginia Press
Publication date:	05/26/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	504
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Brent Tarter is a retired historian and editor at the Library of Virginia, a founding editor of the Library's Dictionary of Virginia Biography project, the author of numerous articles in scholarly journals on various aspects of Virginia history, and the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of sixteen books, including The Grandees of Government: The Origins and Persistence of Undemocratic Politics in Virginia, A Saga of the New South: Race, Law, and Public Debt in Virginia, Gerrymanders: How Redistricting Has Protected Slavery, White Supremacy, and Partisan Minorities in Virginia.

Editorial Reviews

The single best narrative history of Virginia that we now have. It represents the fruits of a lifetime of immersion in the relevant archival sources, and of study of the best historical scholarship available. Tarter knows both better than any scholar now alive. He is a living guide to the entire evidentiary record for the history of Virginia. His range and mastery are simply awe-inspiring.

Kevin Hardwick

Tarter’s narrative is packed with interpretation of cultural, political and historical changes occurring in more than four centuries of Virginia life. The book provides a clear understanding of our past.

Roanoke Times

"The single best narrative history of Virginia that we now have. It represents the fruits of a lifetime of immersion in the relevant archival sources, and of study of the best historical scholarship available. Tarter knows both better than any scholar now alive. He is a living guide to the entire evidentiary record for the history of Virginia. His range and mastery are simply awe-inspiring. "—Kevin Hardwick, James Madison University, coeditor of Virginia Reconsidered: New Histories of the Old Dominion

"Tarter’s narrative is packed with interpretation of cultural, political and historical changes occurring in more than four centuries of Virginia life. The book provides a clear understanding of our past. "—author of Roanoke Times

From the Publisher