Customer Reviews

Samuel Wiseman's Book of Record: The Official Account of Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia, 1676-1677

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To be perfectly honest, I don't expect anybody to read this review. This book is about as obscure as it gets. Even American history professors aren't exactly lined up to get this volume.

That said, this rare primary source is an enlightening look at Bacon's Rebellion. Today, people tend to read all sorts of modern political agendas into the facts of the rebellion and most domestic primary sources are a bit too far after the fact to be reliable. Out of an intense curiosity regarding the true events and circumstances of the rebellion, I purchased this book to get the story unfiltered by centuries of historians' commentaries or half-truths parroted through generations of textbooks and historical compilations.

I was not disappointed. Though most of the record is uninteligible to a lay reader (agonizing details regarding the specific grievances of individual counties of the Virginia Colony, etc.), the narative is chilling in its detail. This is not the story as told by Governor Sir William Berkeley, nor is it from the perspective of Bacon's apologists. Rather, it is the official report to the English Crown of an investigation into the events conducted by the Royal Privy Council within weeks of the end of the insurrection.

The narative is interesting in that it damns Bacon for his actions at the same time that it paints a not-unsympathetic picture of Bacon. One gets the sense that the author was somewhat hostile toward Berkeley for reasons explained elsewhere in the record. Still, it cronicles Bacon's brutal transgressions against peaceful Native Americans with unflinching honesty and one sees the event as far more complex than most present-day students of history are likely to be taught.

Is this book worth the $80 I paid for it? Well, not if you can find it in a library. But the best most libraries have to offer on the subject is Washburn's somewhat tainted _The Governor and the Rebel_ so if colonial-era history is your professional specialty or just a beloved hobby, it very well may be your only option to get the story right fron the horse's mouth.