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Rating: 
Summary: An interesting take on revolutionary motivation
Review: Holton set out to answer the question, "Why did Virginia participate in the revolutionary movement?" His answers are tightly argued, persuasive, and often surprising. This book is certainly an expansion on the "great man" approach to history, in that it expands political motivation to include a variety of people- small farmers, slaves, and Indians- who are not often heard from in this context.I think the book is most interesting when Holton discusses wealthy Virginians' fears of slave revolt. To me, this is the most persuasive facet of his thesis. Overall, an excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: An interesting take on revolutionary motivation
Review: Holton set out to answer the question, "Why did Virginia participate in the revolutionary movement?" His answers are tightly argued, persuasive, and often surprising. This book is certainly an expansion on the "great man" approach to history, in that it expands political motivation to include a variety of people- small farmers, slaves, and Indians- who are not often heard from in this context. I think the book is most interesting when Holton discusses wealthy Virginians' fears of slave revolt. To me, this is the most persuasive facet of his thesis. Overall, an excellent book.
Rating: 
Summary: A must read for anyone even attempting to study the era.
Review: One of the most common misconceptions of Americans today centers around the revolutionary war, specifically the fact that this war was caused by colonist unrest due to excessive taxation, chiefly in Massachusetts. Fortunately, Holton is able to modify this fallacy, as he presents towards massive strife in the Virginia colony that can be linked as a direct cause of the revolutionary war.
By presenting tension between everyone from debtors and creditors to oppressed minorities (slaves and Native Americans) and the Anglo Saxon majority, Holton is able to paint a much more realistic picture of the times. Readers will be shocked by evidence presented; especially notable is the substantiation of rich landowners actually wanting to exterminate the slave trade prior to the war, almost akin to a sumptuary law, to preserve social boundaries. Also notable is the documentation of how close battle came to breaking out in Virginia as a result of Dunmore's actions, far prior to any serious action in Lexington, Concord, or even Boston.
Although this book makes an interesting read in correcting some of the misunderstandings more than two centuries of time have created, it also works well in conjunction with a study of the rest of the war. When Dunmore's actions are viewed as a precursor to those of Cornwallis, Tarleton, and Clinton, an even more worthwhile and in depth study of the era can be begun.
Thus, whether the reader is just has an interest in the time period or is a scholar striving to make connections, Holton's work is an excellent read. One can only hope that Holton or others can help paint a more realistic picture for the other twelve colonies.
Rating:
Summary: great read
Review: Ours is an age when we worry about consumer debt (and consumer confidence), terrorists, and an energy crisis. In other words, when we feel our society a little wobbly it is great to read Woody Holton's book and find similar concerns in pre-revolutionary Virginia. Virginians were caught up in a "web" that included a debt crisis, fear of indian raids, slave uprisings, and class struggle. "Although no one can deny their importance [great leaders], the thesis of this book has been that the Independence movement was also powerfully influenced by British merchants and by three groups that today would be called grassroots: Indians, farmers, and slaves." (p. 206)How we relate to Holton's thesis probably depends on how we feel present day worries influence voting (thinking) patterns.
While the specific subject of this book is pressures that resulted in revolution, the facts presented here could be used to make a wider case about the "web" that every generation finds itself in. What will our consumer crisis, energy shortage, fear of terrorists lead to?
Holton writes well and is to be commended for his presentation.
Rating:
Summary: Simply excellent.
Review: Prof. Holton does a masterly job of thoroughly documenting the effect that the people about which one doesn't read in most history books -- slaves, Indians, small farmers -- had on the decision of Washington, Jefferson, et.al. to make their momentous break from Great Britain. The book is a rarely-seen guide to the complex decision-making process of the seemingly-oxymoronic elite revolutionaries of Virginia, a guide that applies to politics today. It also spells out the implications -- for better or (often) for worse -- of the strategic and tactical decisions made by the supposedly powerless elements of society in times of transition . . . which, again, reverberate for today's political and social activists.
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