Books published by University of Virginia Press

Illuminates George Washington's life, more fully explicating his character and his achievements. Arranged thematically, the book's chapters focus on important and controversial issues, achieving a depth not possible in a traditional biography.

"This book examines the writings and life of Henry Adams during his time in Washington, D.C."--

The result of a perfect storm of factors that culminated in a great moral catastrophe, the Salem witch trials of 1692 took a breathtaking toll on the young English colony of Massachusetts. Over 150 people were imprisoned, and nineteen men and women, including a minister, were executed by hanging. The colonial government, which was responsible for initiating the trials, eventually repudiated the entire affair as a great "e;delusion of the Devil."e;In Satan and Salem, Benjamin Ray looks beyond single-factor interpretations to offer a far more nuanced view of why the Salem witch-hunt spiraled out of control. Rather than assigning blame to a single perpetrator, Ray assembles portraits of several major characters, each of whom had complex motives for accusing his or her neighbors. In this way, he reveals how religious, social, political, and legal factors all played a role in the drama. Ray's historical database of court records, documents, and maps yields a unique analysis of the geographic spread of accusations and trials, ultimately showing how the witch-hunt resulted in the execution of so many people-far more than any comparable episode on this side of the Atlantic.In addition to the print volume, Satan and Salem will also be available as a linked e-book offering the reader the opportunity to investigate firsthand the primary sources and maps on which Ray's groundbreaking argument rests.

This volume of the papers of George Washington covers the period when his attention was devoted to several matters of national significance: the Residence and Funding Acts; Indian affairs; Harmar's expedition in the Northwest Territory; and intrigues of foreign agents on America's frontiers.

Offers a survey of the manuscript culture of the eighteenth century, discussing handwritten culinary recipes, the poetry of John Keats, Benjamin Franklin's letters about his electrical experiments, and more. Collectively, the essays demonstrate that the world of handwritten exchange thrived despite the spread of the printed word.

Offers a survey of the manuscript culture of the eighteenth century, discussing handwritten culinary recipes, the poetry of John Keats, Benjamin Franklin's letters about his electrical experiments, and more. Collectively, the essays demonstrate that the world of handwritten exchange thrived despite the spread of the printed word.

In 1979, the Marxist-Leninist New Jewel Movement under Maurice Bishop overthrew the government of the Caribbean island country of Grenada, establishing the People's Revolutionary Government. Laurie Lambert offers the first comprehensive study of how gender and sexuality produced different narratives of the Grenada Revolution.

Seeks to change how we think about the American love story and how we imagine the love of literature. By examining classics of nineteenth-century American literature, Ashley Barnes offers a new approach to literary theory that encompasses both New Historicism and the ethical turn in literary studies.

How have African American writers drawn on bad men and black boys as creative touchstones for their evocative and vibrant art? This is the question posed by Howard Rambsy's new book, which explores bad men as a central, recurring, and understudied figure in African American literature, and music.

Examines Langston Hughes's associations with a number of black writers from the Caribbean and Africa, exploring the implications of recognising these multiple facets of the African American literary icon and of taking a truly transnational approach to his life, work, and influence.