The Old Dominion

This book attempts to provide a documentary history of early Virginia. To a large extent it succeeds in its purpose, but it attempts to cover too much ground to be truly extraordinary. The documents it includes provide insight into the colony's early development, but how many more were excluded? A single volume is not really a place for a thorough analysis of a colony's documentary history. The book begins with the establishment of Jamestown and the starving time that soon followed. It even mentions cannibalism by at least one or two of the early colonists. It moves on to document how self government emerged over time. Democracy does not happen overnight, so those who wish to use this book as an illustration of how democracy came to be will be hard-pressed to make valid points. Likewise, a colony's economy did not thrive from the beginning, and Virginia had its share of troubles. Finding workders became a constant challenge and though slavery did not begin in 1619, this book does not do the emergence of slavery justice. All in all this is a good attempt to provide insight into the primary documents of early Virginia history. It could have done much more, but the author's intent of illustrating the highpoints seems to have been met. This book is not for the casual reader, unless that reader is a true student of history. But it is a good book and worthy to be considered as required reading by instructors of colonial Virginia history classes.