Virginia Books

Growing up in that area was truly a blessing. Through skilled photography and exceptional writing, this book captures the true essence of the islands, both past and present. It was a great read, a must have for anyone's collection!

This cookbook is written in the old world tradition of our grandmothers or great-grandmothers. The recipes are tried and true, of simple and available ingredients easily put together. The history or background of recipes are given. I found the background of one of my great-grandmother's recipes. I heartily recommend this book for all bakers who enjoy a good read along with readily executed recipes.

Withers' Chronicles of Border Warfare, an excellent example of the genre of frontier history, was originally published in 1831. In 1895, Reuben Thwaites, editor of Wisconsin Historical Collections, prepared an annotated edition of the Withers book based on materials not available to the author, among them the extraordinary collection of primary sources assembled at the Wisconsin Historical Society by Lyman C. Draper. Clearfield Company is pleased to reprint the revised edition of Withers' Chronicles at this time. The focal point of Chronicles of Border Warfare is the American settlement throughout the northwestern portion of colonial Virginia (an area which today encompasses parts of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania) from the French and Indian War to the Battle of Fallen Timbers, and the ensuing clashes with the indigenous population. While the watershed events of the advancing frontier (the arrival of scouts, establishment of forts, and the ultimate triumph of the U.S. Army) give a structure to Withers' account, what the book is really about are detailed, often grisly, descriptions of contacts between the races. Not something to be read by the squeamish, it is full of graphic accounts of massacres and reprisals. While the Chronicles purport to be essentially historical in nature, genealogists will appreciate the numerous references to the intrepid scouts and settlers along the frontier furnished by the author and amplified by Mr. Thwaites. All such persons are readily found in the index at the back of the volume.

Written by Marshall W. Fishwick, Ph.D, DPhil, Cicero, Classicism, and Popular Culture examines the seminal contributions that Greek poet, philosopher, writer, and scholar Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) has made to Western civilization in general, and modern popular culture in specific. From parallels between Cicero and Jefferson, to how Cicero's efforts to help make Latin into a universal language influenced linguistic development across the globe, to analogies between Rome and America, Cicero, Classicism, and Popular Culture sifts through threads of history to reveal hidden patterns, connections, and lessons for both the present and the future. A handful of color plates illustrate this illuminating discourse, especially recommended for college library shelves.

Dr. Harvey Black, grandson of one of the founders of Blacksburg, Virginia, served as surgeon of the 4th Virginia Regiment, as surgeon of the Stonewall Brigade, and as surgeon in charge of the Second Corps Field Hospital of the Army of Northern Virginia. Black's Civil War letters, which begin with Stonewall Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862 and end with Jubal Early's Valley Campaign of 1864, discuss climactic battles like Second Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. Literate and perceptive, Black had interesting things to say about figures like Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Jubal Early, and Thomas Rosser. The Second Corps Field Hospital was the site of the amputation of Jackson's arm at Chancellorsville, and Black was one of three surgeons who assisted Dr. Hunter McGuire in the operation. In addition to Harvey Black's letters, the book contains three letters of his wife Mollie, all that have survived. They poignantly reveal the trials Southern women faced during the war, fending for themselves and their families. The small town of Blacksburg in Appalachian Virginia also plays an important part in the story. An appendix transcribes and analyses the free and slave schedules for the 1860 Blacksburg census.

Black was a significant figure in the Civil War and postwar Virginia medicine and education. After the war, Black helped found what is today known as Virginia Tech.

This absoloute Civil War site traveler book is fantastic in helping you locate and enjoy virtually every Civil war site in Virginia. Robertson smartly divides VA. into geographic regions
where he maps out the locations of famous CW sites with not only directions but brief description sof the events. With this book I found the famous Drewry's Bluff defense site located above the James river 7 miles below Richmond where the Confederates stopped the monitor and it's fleet and in 1864 played a key role in stoping the Union advance to take Petersburg and Richmond. A remote and beautiful earthwork over the river. Obviously, the great sites of Manasas and Richmond are noted but
off the beaten path locations are best. The site of Turner Ashby's death putside of Harrisonburg off a dirt road into the woods, the site of the Rifle pits and trenches of the North Anna campaign, the star shaped eathern fort in Smithfield, the remote twin on the opposite side of the James in Fort Eustis Army Base, Fort Early an earthwork in Lynchburg, the huge trenches in Newport News City Park, the Jackson valley Campaign and on. A great road trip book and I hope he will have an updated edition with more off road sites. Caution is needed regarding areas that have been developed since the initial printing. Original access roads may have been changed or renamed such as at Yellow Tavern where the connecting street, now called Old Francis Rd., no longer crosses U.S. 1. Now you must go further north and take a right (east) on VA. Center Parkway (North of 295 overpass) from U.S. 1 to old Telegraph Road, then travel south, .1 mile past Old Francis Rd to find Stuart's death site.

These comics are enjoyed by our entire family. Our 10 year old son can't seem to put them down as the illustrations and content are clever and entertaining. We love how Bently Boyd brings history to life in a fun, creative and easy reading style. After my son is finished reading he can't wait to share what he read with the entire family. We have acquired the entire set of Chester Comix with Content Series and love them all. These make a GREAT gift for anyone of any age or even for teachers as they are an awesome learning tool. This is a definate must have for the entire family. ENJOY!

This is a great easy to understand overview of African History in that it is decently comprehensive, and doesn't bog the reader down in a million names and dates. The best feature of this book is its focus on Africa, for it's own sake, instead of in relation to others. It also talks more about what the people were doing than kings and other heads of states, and how people interacted together, in such forms as trade, cultural difussion, and yes, wars.

While dry in parts, as it is in fact a textbook, it makes African history accessible to one who hasn't gotten enough of it. I recommend it highly.

Ivor Noël Hume, who has delighted readers for years with his scintillating, witty histories, now turns his pen to fiction, with CIVILIZED MEN: A JAMES TOWNE TRAGEDY.

Against a backdrop of his usual vivid historicity, Noël Hume weaves a story of fictional brothers brought to the New World in 1610, just after the infamous Starving Time at Jamestown in Virginia. Both employed in the service of Lord Delaware (he of ardent conviction and narrow vision), young Will and John find different paths to follow in and out of the James Towne Settlement. Struggling for existence in the disorganized, under-stocked fortification, moving into ever-closer contact with the Indians and their efficient society, the brothers find themselves growing apart as their views divide on faith, duty, heritage, and, most importantly, the definition of a "civilized man." Their differences sharpen into conflict, even as they work to find a place in an environment that is not as expected or promised, but must now be, irrevocably and forever, home.

Based on his prize-winning screenplay, Noël Hume's book evenly depicts both fictional and real characters with vibrant intensity, filling every page with detail, humor, poignancy and non-stop action, bringing the past refreshingly alive. A wonderful read, from a marvelous writer.

This is a great pictorial book chalk full of historic photographs of Clarksburg, West Virginia. The text and photo captions are clear and informative. I found "Clarksburg - Images of America: West Virginia" an incredible resource and highly recommend it to any enthusiast of Americana, Photography, History, and Sociology... and for anyone and everyone who likes pictorial books!