This was one of the first book I read for my major and it was actually very well done. Definitely a very interesting history after being trapt reading mundane historical accounts during high school. Plus it was an easy read!

even though this was the 2nd time I've read this book (both times for a class!), I found it a lot more interesting the second time around! I'm not sure why, but I seemed to get more from it the 2nd time around. This book is an amazing in how it traces the development of the virginia colony and how freedom in Virginia (and the rest of the colonies) is inextricably linked to slavery. It really made me rethink my view of the founding of the southern colonies. For Virginia, it was about money- how to make more of it, and how to keep others from having it.

This book is every bit as good as praised. One of the best histories I have ever read. Book-length reply to Samuel Johnson's line, "How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes? I don't think I've ever read a history book that was as *suspenseful* as this book. You know he's going to get to slavery sooner or later, but the tension builds after chapter upon chapter looking at the roots of English imperialism, tensions with Native Americans, labor and class in early Virginia. And then he gets to the point when exploitation of white servants gives way to the use of enslaved Africans, it's just devastating. It's also hard to imagine a better depiction of American pathologies: dehumanization of the poor, the interpretation of liberty as enabling "big men" to exploit free from interference, and the poisoned stream of racism running through it all. Even the link of firearms to all of the above.

This book gave me a lot to think about, but it didn't focus on the advent of slavery/racism as much as I anticipated. The first 3/4 of the book focused on white settlers and white servants, and then he seemed to throw the issues of African slaves in at the very end. A good read though, particularly for those interested in Colonial Virginia history.