The History and Present State of Virginia

This book was written and published in London in 1705, one of the earliest printed English-language histories about North America by an author born there. Like his brother-in-law William Byrd II, the author of this book Robert Beverley was a scion of Virginia's planter elite, personally ambitious and at odds with royal governors in the colony. As a native-born American—most famously claiming "I am an Indian"—he provided English readers with the first thoroughgoing account of the province's past, natural history, Indians, and current politics and society. This new edition situates the author and his book in the context of the metropolitan-provincial political and cultural issues of his day and explores the many contradictions embedded in his narrative

Archaeology · Art · Brother · Context (archaeology · Elite · Genealogy · Literature · Metropolitan area · Narrative · Political science · Politics · State (computer science · American Environmental and Regional History · Archaeology and Natural History · Classics · History · Law · colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 · description and travel · Early works to 1800 · Indians of North America · Travel · united states · Virginia