Dominion of Memories: Jefferson, Madison, and the Decline of Virginia

Dominion of Memories: Jefferson, Madison, and the Decline of Virginia
ISBN-10
0465017436
ISBN-13
9780465017430
Category
History / World
Pages
320
Language
English
Published
2007-05-21
Publisher
Basic Books
Author
Susan Dunn

Description

For decades, the Commonwealth of Virginia led the nation. The premier state in population, size, and wealth, it produced a galaxy of leaders: Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Mason, Marshall. Four of the first five presidents were Virginians. And yet by the middle of the nineteenth century, Virginia had become a byword for slavery, provincialism, and poverty. What happened? In her remarkable book, Dominion of Memories, historian Susan Dunn reveals the little known story of the decline of the Old Dominion. While the North rapidly industrialized and democratized, Virginia's leaders turned their backs on the accelerating modern world. Spellbound by the myth of aristocratic, gracious plantation life, they waged an impossible battle against progress and time itself. In their last years, two of Virginia's greatest sons, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, grappled vigorously with the Old Dominion's plight. But bound to the traditions of their native soil, they found themselves grievously torn by the competing claims of state and nation, slavery and equality, the agrarian vision and the promises of economic development and prosperity. This fresh and penetrating examination of Virginia's struggle to defend its sovereignty, traditions, and unique identity encapsulates, in the history of a single state, the struggle of an entire nation drifting inexorably toward Civil War.

Other editions

Similar books

  • The United States in Asia: A Historical Dictionary
    By David Shavit

    References : Auburn Theological Seminary : General Biographical Catalogue , 1818-1918 ( Auburn , 1918 ) ; Suzanne W. Barnett , " Justus Doolittle at Foochow : Christian Values in the Treaty Ports , " in Christianity in China : Early ...

  • People in World History: A-M
    By Susan K. Kinnell

    1752-53 For abstract see Fielding , Henry Heyl , James Bell 2978 . Franke , Norman H. JAMES BELL HEYL : BERMUDA'S PHARMACIST - PHOTOGRAPHER . Pharmacy in Hist . 1982 24 ( 3 ) : 117-119 . Biography of Anglo - American pharmacist ...

  • 戰爭的滋味:為食物而戰,重整國際秩序的第二次世界大戰
    By 莉琪‧科林漢

    ... 孤立狀態、破壞都市化發展,迫使飢餓人口回到農村從事自給式農業註1091。日本缺乏了解東南亞的專家及顧問,而大部分的混亂局勢起因於管理不當所致,而非蓄意或思慮不周的政策註1092。就糧食供給的管理而言,占領當局最致命的錯誤是放任稻米產業分崩離析。

  • 你一定爱读的极简世界史
    By , 李菲

    (英)玛丽奥特, 李菲. 疆域达到了最大,罗德岛、塞浦路斯和安纳托利亚西南岸上都是他们的地盘。迈锡尼人还将克里特文字变成了一种希腊文,翻译过来的文字显示,迈锡尼人也信仰一些古典希腊的神灵,如海神波塞冬、太阳神阿波罗和主神宙斯。

  • Handbook of Classical Mythology
    By William F. Hansen

    Presents classic stories of the Greeks and Romans, along with geographical and historical background information.

  • The End of the Post-War Era: Documents on Great-Power Relations 1968-1975
    By James Mayall, Cornelia Navari

    The Vietnamization plan was launched following Secretary ( of Defense Melvin R. ) Laird's visit to Vietnam in March . Under the plan , I ordered first a substantial increase in the training and equipment of South Vietnamese forces .

  • 1956: The World in Revolt
    By Simon Hall

    Nancy J. Clark and William H. Worger, South Africa: The Rise and Fall of Apartheid (Harlow: Pearson Education, 2011), 3. Saul Dubow, Apartheid, 1948–1994 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 1, 30. Clark and Worger, South Africa, ...

  • Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Ancient World
    By Peter I. Bogucki

    Michael S. Bisson , S. Terry Childs , Philip de Barros , and Augustin F. C. Holl , Ancient African Metallurgy : The Socio - Cultural Context ( Walnut Creek , Calif .: AltaMira Press , 2000 ) . Moses I. Finley , The Ancient Economy ...

  • Ancient and Medieval Theatre: A Historiographical Handbook
    By Ronald W. Vince

    I owe a debt of gratitude as well to my colleagues Laurel Braswell , Douglas Duncan , Antony Hammond , and Richard Morton , who read the work in its earlier stages and offered valuable comment ; to James Brasch , Linda Hutcheon ...

  • 1989
    By James Mark, Bogdan C. Iacob, Tobias Rupprecht

    Merje Kuus, 'Europe's Eastern Expansion and the Reinscription of Otherness in EastCentral Europe', Progress in Human Geography, 28/4 (2004), 477. Kuus, Geopolitics Reframed, 55. Samuel Huntington's The Clash of Civilizations was very ...