Richmond: The Story of a City

by Virginius Dabney

Richmond: The Story of a City chronicles the growth of this historic community over nearly four centuries from its founding in the early 1700s by William Byrd II to its most recent urban and suburban developments. In this expanded edition Virginius Dabney updates his history by examining the developments in racial relations, cultural institutions, and downtown architecture that have taken place in Richmond over the past two decades.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History

436 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Virginius Dabney was an American teacher, journalist, and writer, who edited the Richmond Times-Dispatch from 1936 to 1969.

Reviews

[D · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't really a history of Richmond so much as a collection of random things that happened in Richmond. The author made no attempt to unify the book in away way. There is no thesis. A history of a city doesn't necessarily require that kind of unity but it would have strengthened the book and forced the author to focus. The book is at least 100 pages too long. He cannot resist the urge to mention the name of anyone who lived or passed thorough Richmond. He has something complimentary to say about everyone. According to Dabney no one who lived in Richmond anything less than "one of the best" at whatever they did. All could be forgiven if the book was a series of entertaining anecdotes but for long sections its closer to a historical address book.

The book is more interesting as reflectionof its time. Dabney was a pillar of the community in 1976 but even though he made an effort to include the history of the city's black residents he cannot shake his confederate sympathies. He knows slavery was wrong and the subsequent treatment of black people unjust but he can't bring himself to condemn anyone for it. He'd rather talk about whatever singing club was popular among elite families in the 1890s.

Overall, I learned something about the city. I enjoyed the books familiar tone but wouldn't recommend. Unless you're very concerned about what old buildings were still standing in 1976.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Might be more aptly named "Richmonders: The Stories of a City's Residents." Not a bad read, but not the most engaging history, either; lots of focus on people and their relationships and anecdotes about them. The writing is a bit more opinionated (and occasionally defensive) than I expected in a history.

[Mac · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a slog. I’m giving this a very grudging three stars solely for its scope. Dabney manages to list the first and last name of every person who has ever done anything in Richmond. If your great-great-grandfather spit on the sidewalk in Richmond in 1870, there’s a good chance he gets a passing reference among “notable sidewalk spitters of the 19th century.”

I realize that this book was written to be research resource and not to be page turner, but Dabney’s prose seems almost deliberately unpleasant: so many disjointed short declaratives and so much passive voice. I don’t think there was a beautiful sentence in the entire 400 pages. I don’t understand how a man can spend so much time researching a project of this size and so completely ignore the readability of his prose.

My other complaint is the baffling decisions Dabney makes about what information to include and what to leave out. I realize that a book covering almost 400 years is always going to elicit some why-didn’t-you-mentions, but I lost count of how many important landmarks whose origins I still don’t know anything about: Hollywood Cemetery, The Mosque, The Byrd Theatre, &c &c &c. But Dabney still found the space to list the names and day jobs of everyone who served on the Richmond city council in 1815.

There were a handful of amusing anecdotes sprinkled throughout. By the hundredth time the Mayo Bridge washed down the James, even the humorless Dabney had to acknowledge the absurdity of it. And who knew that the leading cause of death among newspaper editors in Richmond was dueling? But the funniest part of this book was Dabney tying himself in knots to denounce racism itself while never being impolite enough to say anything unkind about a racist person, no matter how flagrant.

Please learn from my mistake and only pick this book up as a reference text for research and do not read it cover to cover.

FFO: Plinths, unsound bridges, cannons, cigarettes, proper nouns.

[Deniz Besik · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good resource about the history of Richmond. As an international resident, I've learned a lot about the history of the United States and had no idea Richmond was such a big part of it. It has some questionable comments, but I read about the author a little bit he is a middle point republican. The NYTimes describes him as "A native of Virginia and a grandson of a Confederate veteran, he was an early and steadfast opponent of segregation. For many years as the editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, he took stands against Southern sectionalism and fundamentalism that aroused protest from his conservative colleagues and neighbors." So I am okay with reading his work!

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow wow wow. This was so informative. Plenty of problematic takes, as it was written before the 1990s. There are gaps, but I learned SO much from this text anyway.

[Will Waller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a enthralling account of the history of Richmond. Dabney paints a picture of Richmond from its colonial foundings to the 1970s, when racial divisions wracked the city. As a resident of Richmond, living in the oldest part of the city, I found the history remarkable. For instance, the efforts of the city of Richmond during the Civil War, specifically those of the women of the city, were incredible. The women found strength from somewhere within and Bell Whitely noted, "Unquestionably, theirs was the greater sacrifice." During the Civil War, after the city surrendered, the fires raged uncontrollably. Phoebe Pember who worked at Chimborazo Hospital noted that "the miracles ofth enew testament have been reenacted, she wrote, "the lame, the halt, and the blind have been cured" as they got away from the hospital as the city burned. A fascinating history for a fascinating town!