drkew's review against another edition
4.0
White Virginians lived in fear that the people they enslaved would turn on them. They had reason to be afraid, not only of a violent uprising but also of the determination of enslaved people to escape bondage any way they could. Taylor opens a window onto enslaved people's resistance in Virginia during the War of 1812 and shows the processes by which several thousand enslaved people gained their freedom by siding with the British.
canadajanes's review against another edition
4.0
Very good an informative read, although at times felt a little repetitive and as if the author wasn't sure if he was trying to write a research paper or a popular non-fiction narrative.
judyward's review against another edition
5.0
This winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for History is an extensively researched and wonderfully readable history of slavery in Virginia focusing on the impact that slavery had in Virginia on events during the War of 1812. Slavery in Virginia was a two-edged sword. It provided needed labor for the cash crops upon which the Virginia economy was based while also creating both fear and loathing on every side. Taylor describes slave owners as living in a "cocoon of dread" for the day when their slaves--the internal enemy--would openly act against them. That day came in 1813 when British warships entered the Chesapeake Bay and were surprised by the hundreds of slaves who rowed out to the warships under cover of darkness beseeching the British for protection and liberation. Ultimately the British recruited the runaway slaves to serve in their army and navy and also utilized slaves as guides and spies. Because of their knowledge of the area that these slaves possessed the British were able to successfully broaden their onshore attacks culminating in the capture and burning of Washington, D.C.
tlaynejones's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Gaslighting, Violence, War, Racial slurs, and Slavery
Moderate: Sexism
abeanbg's review against another edition
5.0
Perhaps lacking in overall narrative momentum--Taylor is too much a researcher for that, I think, this is still a terrifically insightful work of history. Taylor's great skill at archival work allows him to fully flesh out the political and social circumstances which led white Virginians to nearly destroy themselves in the War of 1812 because they were so blind to the evils of slavery. The tautologies they enforce and mythologies they spin to justify their abhorrent institution leads Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe (three massive blunderers) to the very precipice of dissolving the Union and throwing away the gains of the Revolution and Constitution because they could not ever admit the injustice of slavery.
zelanator's review against another edition
4.0
Overall I enjoyed reading this book. I’m not sure that others interested in history for purely entertainment/leisure would find this a gripping read. Some parts of Taylor’s prose become extremely tedious as he dissects the generational inheritances of a plantation and the evolution of discipline and correction on that plantation (Corrottoman). Despite its title about 350 of 435 pages focus on the War of 1812, with an introductory and conclusion that brings in the period 1776-1812 and 1815-1832. He advances a fairly accessible argument that Virginians long feared that the enslaved presented an “internal enemy” that could, at any time, given their numerical superiority take up arms against a defunct militia system and overthrow the slavery regime. Because the Federal government could not muster adequate national forces to defend slavery against British raiding during the War of 1812 many Virginian elites and pundits began advocating ultra-local, states-rights nationalism that expressed a profound distrust for the Union. The British strategy of liberating slaves, training them as Colonial Marines, and using them as guides and soldiers against Virginians prefigured how Union armies during the American Civil War would attack slavery and use freedmen to topple the Confederate regime.
dansbooks's review against another edition
3.0
I had to deduct a star from an otherwise fascinating read for the Audible edition's annoying narrator, who seems to have been under sedation for much of the performance, and who throughout the entire narrative mispronounces the name of one of the book's primary figures (British Admiral George Cockburn, whom he calls "Cock-burn" instead of "Co-burn").
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