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The River Where America Began: A Journey Along the James
In this engaging new book, Bob Deans introduces Americans to the James River, explaining its essential role in the shaping of modern America and helping readers to understand how much of who we are as a nation is rooted along its shores. iThe River Where America Begani takes readers on a journey along the James from the earliest days of civilization nearly 15,000 years ago through the English settlement at Jamestown and finishing with Lincoln's tour of the defeated capital of Richmond in 1865.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
October 20, 2024
The River Where America Began offers an interesting perspective on American history spanning from 1606, the sailing of the original colonists from London, to 1865, the end of the Civil War. The perspective centers on the James River region of Virginia, primarily from the Capital at Richmond eastward to the Chesapeake Bay. This location in America is rich with historical events, which Bob Deans describes in detail. I learned of many new things concerning this region, and books that allow me to learn are always appreciated.
The aspect of this book that makes it interesting, however, also makes it weak in covering other events in history. If history was not happening in the James River region, then generalizations tended to be used. For instance, the Revolutionary War had significant events in the region at the beginning and end of the war. Patrick Henry's calls America to arms in Richmond in 1775 and the war ends with the British defeat at Yorktown in 1781. The events of the war that transpired between these two events are mostly glossed over.
The book does an outstanding job of putting Native Americans and African Americans into proper perspective. Bob Dean clearly values reality over myth with respect to colonization and the region’s economic success. However, some additional research shows that Deans possibly over-simplified some slave-related events. For instance, the slave rebellion led by Nat Turner in 1831, as described by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, was something that was more complicated than Deans describes, and in some aspects, less dramatic.
I read this book in preparation for a vacation to the region. I stayed in Virginia Beach and made day trips out to Jamestown, Yorktown, and Richmond. The book brought forth a sense of history during these drives and made it possible to look at the land as it sits today in ways that allowed me to imagine its natural ruggedness of the past. As such, it was a nice experience, even if it was a bit too focused.
The aspect of this book that makes it interesting, however, also makes it weak in covering other events in history. If history was not happening in the James River region, then generalizations tended to be used. For instance, the Revolutionary War had significant events in the region at the beginning and end of the war. Patrick Henry's calls America to arms in Richmond in 1775 and the war ends with the British defeat at Yorktown in 1781. The events of the war that transpired between these two events are mostly glossed over.
The book does an outstanding job of putting Native Americans and African Americans into proper perspective. Bob Dean clearly values reality over myth with respect to colonization and the region’s economic success. However, some additional research shows that Deans possibly over-simplified some slave-related events. For instance, the slave rebellion led by Nat Turner in 1831, as described by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, was something that was more complicated than Deans describes, and in some aspects, less dramatic.
I read this book in preparation for a vacation to the region. I stayed in Virginia Beach and made day trips out to Jamestown, Yorktown, and Richmond. The book brought forth a sense of history during these drives and made it possible to look at the land as it sits today in ways that allowed me to imagine its natural ruggedness of the past. As such, it was a nice experience, even if it was a bit too focused.
July 6, 2021
Someone gave me this book for free a few years ago (you should see the books I've had piled up for years that I still haven't read) and I decided to read it because I've always loved Virginia history and Virginia is my native state. This book was written around the time of Jamestown's 400th anniversary and I believe the author, Bob Deans, still writes for the Richmond Times Dispatch.
At just under 300 pages, Deans covers a lot of ground in a short period of time. This book is a history of the James River, and Deans argues (successfully) that it is America's most important waterway. The James River forms from the Cowpasture and Jackson River in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and ultimately, hundreds of miles away, empties into the Chesapeake Bay. Along this river you had the first permanent English settlement in North America, Jamestown, which was founded in 1607. You also had the first African slaves in what would become the United States, come to Jamestown in 1619, marking the beginning of America's original sin and a sharp contradiction to the ideals and freedoms laid out during the Revolution.
Along or near the James, you had characters such as the adventurer John Smith, whose map of colonial Virginia was surprisingly accurate for the 1600s and whose leadership helped the Jamestown colony survive. You had the marriage of the Englishman John Rolfe to the Native American Pocahontas, marking one of, if not the, first interracial marriages in the New World. You had Bacon's Rebellion, a precursor in many ways to the American Revolution 100 years later. You had idealists and thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry, who helped navigate America towards independence and create a new country, founded on Enlightenment ideals. You had Anthony Johnson, a former slave who became the first African landowner in Virginia. You had slave rebellions, like Gabriel's Rebellion and the Nat Turner Rebellion, which would set the stage for the Civil War.
The American Revolution effectively ended near the James at Yorktown with Cornwallis's surrender and much of the Civil War was fought and finished along the James. You also had the first legislative body in the western hemisphere, the House of Burgesses, formed along the James, which Virginia's House of Delegates traces its roots to.
All in all, the James tells America's story. It tells the story of a mix of cultures, of ideas, of strife, of freedom, and of slavery. The James River is a microcosm for America as a whole. In 400 years, we have made remarkable progress towards a fair and equal society, but there is still, and always will be, work to be done.
At just under 300 pages, Deans covers a lot of ground in a short period of time. This book is a history of the James River, and Deans argues (successfully) that it is America's most important waterway. The James River forms from the Cowpasture and Jackson River in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and ultimately, hundreds of miles away, empties into the Chesapeake Bay. Along this river you had the first permanent English settlement in North America, Jamestown, which was founded in 1607. You also had the first African slaves in what would become the United States, come to Jamestown in 1619, marking the beginning of America's original sin and a sharp contradiction to the ideals and freedoms laid out during the Revolution.
Along or near the James, you had characters such as the adventurer John Smith, whose map of colonial Virginia was surprisingly accurate for the 1600s and whose leadership helped the Jamestown colony survive. You had the marriage of the Englishman John Rolfe to the Native American Pocahontas, marking one of, if not the, first interracial marriages in the New World. You had Bacon's Rebellion, a precursor in many ways to the American Revolution 100 years later. You had idealists and thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry, who helped navigate America towards independence and create a new country, founded on Enlightenment ideals. You had Anthony Johnson, a former slave who became the first African landowner in Virginia. You had slave rebellions, like Gabriel's Rebellion and the Nat Turner Rebellion, which would set the stage for the Civil War.
The American Revolution effectively ended near the James at Yorktown with Cornwallis's surrender and much of the Civil War was fought and finished along the James. You also had the first legislative body in the western hemisphere, the House of Burgesses, formed along the James, which Virginia's House of Delegates traces its roots to.
All in all, the James tells America's story. It tells the story of a mix of cultures, of ideas, of strife, of freedom, and of slavery. The James River is a microcosm for America as a whole. In 400 years, we have made remarkable progress towards a fair and equal society, but there is still, and always will be, work to be done.
August 2, 2008
Just over a hundred years ago, a scrappy band of Englishmen sailed across the Atlantic under a charter from the Virgina Company of London. They found a river, which they promptly named for their king, James I - the James River. They went up the river a ways and founded Jamestown, the first English settlement in North America, with a very simple mission - find gold and silver, and find a passage to the Pacific Ocean.
They accomplished none of that.
What they did manage was to give European colonization a lasting foothold on this continent, and set the tone for the country that would one day become the United States of America, for good and for bad. Honestly, it's a miracle that things worked out the way it did. Jamestown was a corporate enterprise, one that failed abysmally - there was no gold, nor was there silver or a passage to the Pacific, which is what the Virginia Company wanted. Instead of working on, you know, growing food and building a stable community, the settlers were charged with looking for resources that just weren't there. By the time tobacco was grown as a cash crop, the Virginia Company was as good as dead and the whole thing had to be taken over by the King. Still, a few people got rich, and the governing body of the Virginia colony - the House of Burgesses - was pretty much a rich mens' club, where the wealthy landowners did they best to stay wealthy.
And then there were the Indians. What a cock-up that was. For all that the "romantic" story of Pocahontas captured peoples' hearts and minds, the promise of an Indian-English union was never to be. They tried, for a given value of "try," but they were doomed to failure. For his part, John Smith approached the natives, whose ancestors had been occupying the land for tens of thousands of years, like they were simple savages. The colonists came to land that wasn't theirs and refused to deal with the Indians as equals, deciding instead to start from the position that they were superior and that Powhatan and his people had to be bent to their will. For his part, Powhatan was perhaps too trusting. He wanted to believe that his people and the English could coexist, and gave them more chances than they probably deserved. Neither side wanted to compromise or to truly understand the other, and so there was only one outcome - death, destruction and despair.
Which brings us to the slaves. The first enslaved Africans came on a Dutch ship that grounded on Point Comfort, near the mouth of the James. With a little bit of doublethink and a healthy heaping of racism and paternalism, the colonists realized that slaves could be really helpful, especially with all that tobacco to harvest. And so the infamous slave trade began, transporting millions of slaves across the Atlantic to the colonies.
I don't think I need to really say "Slavery is bad." Here in the 21st century we pretty much take that as a given. What was interesting was the mental gymnastics that had to be done to keep slavery going. For example, Deans notes that there was a debate about how converting the Africans to Christianity would affect their bondage - it would be un-Christian, after all, to enslave other Christians. Solution? Easy - the legislature decreed that Christianity was no bar to slavery for the Africans working in the fields. The settlers, I think, knew what they were doing was wrong, but the slaves were just too useful and the colonists' prejudices were too deeply ingrained. Eventually slave owners would be given the liberty to hunt slaves like animals, even to their deaths. It set a flaw in American history that is still visible today.
There was an interesting passage, regarding the War for Independence. The British were offering freedom to any slave who left his owners to fight on the side of the Redcoats. At the same time, the leaders of the rebellious colonies were offering a slave to people who enlisted in the Colonial army. To quote:Four years after Jefferson laid the cornerstone of American independence on the foundation that "all men are created equal," a militiaman fighting for that very principle could march into battle with the words "Liberty or Death" emblazoned across his chest and expect Jefferson's own government to give him in return cash, land, and the lifetime service of another human being, who could be beaten, worked to death, or sold like a dog. A colony impregnated at its birth with slavery, Virginia had reduced itself to offering slaves as an incentive for white Americans battling for freedom, even as their British foes dangled the promise of liberty in front of blacks willing to fight on behalf of the crown that had chartered the company that had enslaved them for profit. Both sides called it democracy...." (p. 211)So, what happened along the banks of the James, from 1607 to 1865, shaped the America of the 21st century. Deans ends the book with a look at where we are today, and draws the readers' attention to the current conflict in Iraq, where he leads us to an interesting point.
Four hundred years ago, our forefathers came into a land that was not theirs, promised peace with the natives of that land, but not on their terms. Refusing to understand the culture, the history or the values of the people they were dealing with, the Jamestown colonists, confident in their own superiority, insisted that the Indians become more like them. It failed. Horribly. The mistreatment of the Native Americans is one of the great stains on American history, and one would think that it could have been easy to prevent, hindsight being what it is.
Will we do the same thing in the Middle East? It looks like we are, which depresses me immensely. We may not be able to go back in time to seventeenth-century Jamestown, to tell John Smith that he needs to deal with Powhatan as an equal, not a savage, but we can use that lesson now. We can remember what a colossal failure that turned out to be, and not do it again. Ever.
If you're interested in early American history, it's a good read. Check it out.
They accomplished none of that.
What they did manage was to give European colonization a lasting foothold on this continent, and set the tone for the country that would one day become the United States of America, for good and for bad. Honestly, it's a miracle that things worked out the way it did. Jamestown was a corporate enterprise, one that failed abysmally - there was no gold, nor was there silver or a passage to the Pacific, which is what the Virginia Company wanted. Instead of working on, you know, growing food and building a stable community, the settlers were charged with looking for resources that just weren't there. By the time tobacco was grown as a cash crop, the Virginia Company was as good as dead and the whole thing had to be taken over by the King. Still, a few people got rich, and the governing body of the Virginia colony - the House of Burgesses - was pretty much a rich mens' club, where the wealthy landowners did they best to stay wealthy.
And then there were the Indians. What a cock-up that was. For all that the "romantic" story of Pocahontas captured peoples' hearts and minds, the promise of an Indian-English union was never to be. They tried, for a given value of "try," but they were doomed to failure. For his part, John Smith approached the natives, whose ancestors had been occupying the land for tens of thousands of years, like they were simple savages. The colonists came to land that wasn't theirs and refused to deal with the Indians as equals, deciding instead to start from the position that they were superior and that Powhatan and his people had to be bent to their will. For his part, Powhatan was perhaps too trusting. He wanted to believe that his people and the English could coexist, and gave them more chances than they probably deserved. Neither side wanted to compromise or to truly understand the other, and so there was only one outcome - death, destruction and despair.
Which brings us to the slaves. The first enslaved Africans came on a Dutch ship that grounded on Point Comfort, near the mouth of the James. With a little bit of doublethink and a healthy heaping of racism and paternalism, the colonists realized that slaves could be really helpful, especially with all that tobacco to harvest. And so the infamous slave trade began, transporting millions of slaves across the Atlantic to the colonies.
I don't think I need to really say "Slavery is bad." Here in the 21st century we pretty much take that as a given. What was interesting was the mental gymnastics that had to be done to keep slavery going. For example, Deans notes that there was a debate about how converting the Africans to Christianity would affect their bondage - it would be un-Christian, after all, to enslave other Christians. Solution? Easy - the legislature decreed that Christianity was no bar to slavery for the Africans working in the fields. The settlers, I think, knew what they were doing was wrong, but the slaves were just too useful and the colonists' prejudices were too deeply ingrained. Eventually slave owners would be given the liberty to hunt slaves like animals, even to their deaths. It set a flaw in American history that is still visible today.
There was an interesting passage, regarding the War for Independence. The British were offering freedom to any slave who left his owners to fight on the side of the Redcoats. At the same time, the leaders of the rebellious colonies were offering a slave to people who enlisted in the Colonial army. To quote:Four years after Jefferson laid the cornerstone of American independence on the foundation that "all men are created equal," a militiaman fighting for that very principle could march into battle with the words "Liberty or Death" emblazoned across his chest and expect Jefferson's own government to give him in return cash, land, and the lifetime service of another human being, who could be beaten, worked to death, or sold like a dog. A colony impregnated at its birth with slavery, Virginia had reduced itself to offering slaves as an incentive for white Americans battling for freedom, even as their British foes dangled the promise of liberty in front of blacks willing to fight on behalf of the crown that had chartered the company that had enslaved them for profit. Both sides called it democracy...." (p. 211)So, what happened along the banks of the James, from 1607 to 1865, shaped the America of the 21st century. Deans ends the book with a look at where we are today, and draws the readers' attention to the current conflict in Iraq, where he leads us to an interesting point.
Four hundred years ago, our forefathers came into a land that was not theirs, promised peace with the natives of that land, but not on their terms. Refusing to understand the culture, the history or the values of the people they were dealing with, the Jamestown colonists, confident in their own superiority, insisted that the Indians become more like them. It failed. Horribly. The mistreatment of the Native Americans is one of the great stains on American history, and one would think that it could have been easy to prevent, hindsight being what it is.
Will we do the same thing in the Middle East? It looks like we are, which depresses me immensely. We may not be able to go back in time to seventeenth-century Jamestown, to tell John Smith that he needs to deal with Powhatan as an equal, not a savage, but we can use that lesson now. We can remember what a colossal failure that turned out to be, and not do it again. Ever.
If you're interested in early American history, it's a good read. Check it out.
September 28, 2020
I'm pleasantly surprised by this book. I think the author did a fantastic job of presenting the story of Americas beginnings in a way that showcased the positive, forward thinking ideas the founding fathers laid down in the Declaration and Constitution while contrasting that with the negative, contradictory realities of slavery and racism. I personally felt the use of quotes to portray these ideas was done very well. The final epilogue chapter is where the author allows his own personal views to come through which results in a message that while our country did not immediately live up to the ideals it put forth we are all inheritors of a common history and common goal - to create a country governed by the people to protect the rights of the individual and to create a world where all men and women are equal and free to live their lives as they see fit. I think we all could benefit from reading this one.
SN: As a Richmond resident and native Hopewellian the stories are very close to home for me.
SN: As a Richmond resident and native Hopewellian the stories are very close to home for me.
November 2, 2016
I just moved to a town along the James River, so I picked this up to read some history about the area. While I agree with some of the other reviews stating the beginning was a bit slow and verbose, the rest of the book was incredibly interesting and informative. I loved that Deans didn't give a year-by-year account but rather major event-by-major event.
This was not a typical history book, which was refreshing to read, but it still enlightened me into many moments in history I had little knowledge of; particularly of John Smith's pre-America years. I'm inspired to read more about the infamous man who helped settle Virginia.
This was not a typical history book, which was refreshing to read, but it still enlightened me into many moments in history I had little knowledge of; particularly of John Smith's pre-America years. I'm inspired to read more about the infamous man who helped settle Virginia.
September 14, 2019
This is a great historical account of an important river, and an interesting take on the “founding” of America. Full disclosure- it was particularly fun for me to read because I grew up in Richmond, right on the James River.
May 21, 2022
This was wonderful. I think the ending got a bit too far into the Civil War and later eras, when I was expecting it to be more centered around Jamestown colonial, but I did enjoy this as a whole.
December 15, 2022
It's interesting to learn about the civil war. We just moved to Richmond, VA, so we are living right in the heart of it all.
October 5, 2020
This author is the emcee at the Junior League of Richmond’s Book and Author dinner that I attend every year, and from that event, I knew that he was a gifted storyteller. With my blog posts about the Virginia Capital Trail and Sherwood Forest this month, it was time for me to finally read it. The book is a fascinating synopsis of American history that centers around the James River, from the Jamestown settlement to the Civil War. There is so much history along this river, including Native American, European, and African stories. The author has a wonderful way with words and really draws you into the stories with his insightful and lyrical prose. I really loved all of his extensively researched historical tidbits!
August 9, 2007
Deans focuses on three pivotal events/periods of American history that have a connection to the James River. Sometimes the connection is a bit thin, but it is an enjoyable read never-the-less. The events are the Jamestown settlement, the development of the political thinking that lead the Virginia contingent to advocate separation from England and the capture of Richmond by Union forces at the end of the Civil War. While he does manage in most cases to show how the nature of the James as a navigation route contributes to the way the early economy and society develops, I don't think he makes the case that the river is instrumental in how things playout. But the book is loaded with lots of detail from other books about the individuals and the events that contributed to the way the U.S. came to be. If you enjoy the background "WHY" type of history book, you will enjoy this book.
August 21, 2016
So this book gets three stars because only about 2/3 of it was good. This book is DESPERATELY in need of a good editor; the author goes on and on and on and on in the most flowery, over-wrought and digressive language about the simplest things, especially in the beginning and end of the book. And I have never seen someone try to create more out of less. This could have just been a good history of the James River and clearly lay out its connection to other things in American history, but the author tries to create a unified theory of everything that definitely does not hold water, and his frankly lazy writing does him no favors. Skip the intro and first chapter, and the last two chapters and epilogue, and you've got a great book in between. The rest is ridiculous fluff.
July 12, 2009
Not just a regional history. From the 1607 colony at Jameston the the end of the civil war, Mr Deans tells an American story. The evolution of American values of freedom and equality and struggles to fulfill their promise are reflected in the history of the James River area. Great story telling with fascinating characters. John Smith, Pocahantos, Thomas Jefferson and more. When you've finished this wonderful narrative take a few more minutes to read the epilogue. It will make you reflect on American values and what it will continue to take to fulfill those ideals for all.
September 21, 2007
I read this since we're celebrating the 400 year anniversary of the founding of Jamestown (very big in the Hampton Roads area). It mainly deals with people and events around the James river and how it has shaped America. Starts from when a meteor fell to earth to create the Chesapeake Bay (news to me) and ends with the Civil War. The author does a really nice job tying all the side stories back to the James river. A good read for this historic year.
July 14, 2009
This history of America focuses on the James River in Virginia. It covers the founding of Jamestown and associated plantations, the Revolutionary War era, and the Civil War. The author focuses on what was happening in the greater James River area (also known as the Virginia Tidewater) to illustrate the events happening throughout the country. An interesting read as either American history or Virginia history.
August 7, 2023
Re-read after having moved to Williamsburg a few years ago. Liked the history of the plantations along the James, but most of the rest of the book just referenced the river as having occurred or being done by someone with roots there. The epilogue summed up the book as America's history related to the treatment of blacks and Indians; a very worthy topic, but not a "Journey along the James".
July 13, 2007
pretty sweet history of Virginia as told through the history of the James River. Must read for all you Virginia history buffs out there...
May 11, 2016
Wonderful, wonderful book. History of this country along this one river.
January 5, 2015
Loved this book!
February 16, 2023
Hits a few high points of Virginian history with a touch of added detail, but Deans overall direction and conclusion of the book is less than desired.
June 17, 2016
I had trouble following this book. Parts of it were pretty good.
May 17, 2014
Incredibly well written and well researched. A great use of imagery.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews