Transformation of Virginia the Book,

Transformation of Virginia

The book, the Transformation of Virginia 1740-1790 is an historical book and a very informative one at that. But the author, Rhys Isaac, goes much deeper into the cultures and families and community life of Virginia than other books of American history. Isaac delves into the everyday events and duties of ordinary people - including slaves - that brings the history of this period in the building of America to life in a very educational and entertaining way.

For example, in Chapter 1, the conceptual framework that the author presents is by way of taking the reader into "deeply satisfying journeys" into the Virginia that was great rivers with rolling hills and thick forests. But wait, one can journey today through the Piedmont region and one "...still finds dense woods...lovely valleys... [and] sweeps of pasture or cornfields." Yes, the conceptualizing continues, the visitor is "conventionally appalled by urban sprawl...and [also] enraptured by untamed wilderness" (p. 11). And so the concept is that certainly once Virginia was wild and beautifully green with thick untouched forests; but some of that grandeur is still there today.

Other conceptual categories the reader is taken to include the climate of Virginia; religion and the rituals that were observed; celebrations, horse races, politics, elections and the system of justice; the spiritual life of the colony; conflicts in the communities; preparing for a revolution; conflict between church leaders and citizens; people arming themselves; patriotism and "conflicting symbols of the social order"; slavery as an issue that festers in the culture of the New World; pioneer spirits heading west; and how people learned to handle change.

The theoretical perspective this author takes is that words are necessary when discussing and recounting history; but "settings, costumes, and gestures" also carry weight when considering the big picture of Virginia as a colony. So he believes in theory that there are more ways to illustrate and explain history than just through narrative, dates, names, events, acts, wars and cultural conflicts. He believes in theory that weaving themes of religion and the various roles played by religious leaders into his book, it comes to life for the reader in ways that plain old boring history books can't and don't do. He doesn't say as much, but it is clear that by focusing on "a series of close-up analyses of particular episodes" (p. 6)

What the author sets out to do, as a central argument, is to avoid trying to find obscure facts and names that haven't been widely published or presented in the historical record. His argument is that "the rich records of popular religious upsurge" that have in the past been left "as the preserve of denominational historians" should be ranked up there with the "struggle for independence" (Introduction page 5). In other words, many histories of colonial America dwell on the rebellion against the British and the taxes that were placed on colonists - levies that finally drove the colonists to not only resist, but to rebel and become a new nation. These facts and events of course are the building blocks to understanding how American came to be.

But there is always more that an author can do in terms of educating his readers, enlightening them and entertaining them at the same time. The author uses sources throughout the book that bring a microscope and a spotlight on certain events in the lives of Virginians during this period in history. As an example of how effectively he uses his sources, and where he gets them, on page 32 the author is pointing out that slaves didn't work in the fields and labor at other tasks seven days a week. They had Sunday off, as a rule, and they made the most of it. Whereas many history books make it seem like slaves were out there under the whip almost ever day of their lives, working fingers to the bone and being beaten if they refused any order.

Sundays they commonly spend in fishing making Potatoes [digging up their small lots of ground allow'd by their Master], building and patching their Quarters or rather cabins" (taken from a Plantation tutor of the Old Dominion, Williamsburg VA, 1957). And also on page 32, the author takes a passage from a book that was published in 1784 by Englishman J.F.D. Smyth, a Tour in the United States of America. This kind of research allows the reader to see that life for slaves involved dance, music, and cultural enjoyment. Life for slaves was rough, no doubt, but there was also time for "communalism" (p. 32).

Instead of retiring to rest, as might naturally be concluded he [the slave] would be glad to do, he generally sets out from home, and walks six or seven miles in the night, be the weather ever so sultry, to a negroe dance, in which he performs with astonishing agility, and the most vigorous exertions, keeping time and cadence, most exactly, with the music of a banjor large hollow instrument with three strings), and a quaqua (somewhat resembling a drum) until he exhausts himself, and scarcely has time, or strength, to return home before the hour he is called forth to toil next morning."17