Forced Founders

Woody Holton is assistant professor of American history at the University of Richmond.

"A challenging reconstruction of the trajectory which carried Virginia's gentlemen revolutionaries from resistance to independence. It will be appreciated by serious scholars of Virginia's revolutionary period; its lively style and wealth of anecdotes will make it an enjoyable read for anyone." --Journal of American Studies "A fascinating reinterpretation of the coming of the Revolution in Virginia. . . . Each vividly detailed and keenly argued section of the book demonstrates how a diverse collection of ordinary men and women pushed Virginia's leaders to declare independence. . . . Holton's powerful and innovative book should influence the study of the American Revolution for years to come." --Virginia Magazine of History and Biography "A fine new book. . . . Where Holton moves beyond his predecessors is the large and colorful cast of characters that he includes in this story." --James H. Merrell, H-Net "An important revisionist appraisal of the factors from 1763 to 1776 that propelled Virginians to support the Revolutionary movement and independence." --CHOICE "Holton does more than transfer a familiar neo-progressive narrative of the coming of the Revolution to Virginia. . . . [He] portrays the coming of the Revolution in Virginia as deeply bound up with competing social groups-- planters, farmers, Indians, slaves, and British merchants-- all of whom pursued their own interests. His social history of a revolution emerging out of these struggles rather than out of civic humanism or disputes surrounding the imperial constitution complements Rhys Isaac's interpretation of cultural conflict in revolutionary Virginia." --American Historical Review "In a detailed, painstakingly researched book that examines the forces that fomented revolution in Colonial Virginia, Holton reveals a new view of Virginia history and a lesser-known side of himself." --Richmond Times-Dispatch "The main strength of Holton's book is his effort to place the actions of the Virginia gentry within a more detailed local context and to see them as actors who were responding to the material concerns that governed their everyday lives." --Law and History Review "This book gives us a brisk and convincing analysis of a region--and revolutionary leaders--we thought we already knew. Given the threats they faced, we can only marvel that those uneasy leaders ever succeeded in such a desperate feat as making a revolution in such a dangerous and divided region. As Holton shows us, they were forced to." --Journal of American History "This may be the most important book on the political culture of Revolutionary Virginia since Rhys Isaac's The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790. It is certainly the most provocative." --Journal of Southern History