Creating Colonial Williamsburg: The Restoration of Virginia's Eighteenth-Century Capital

by Anders Greenspan

In Creating Colonial Williamsburg , Anders Greenspan examines the restoration and re-creation of the structures and gardens of Virginia's colonial capital beginning in 1926. The restoration was undertaken by the Rockefeller family, whose aim was to promote a twentieth-century appreciation for eighteenth-century ideals. Ironically, those ideals, including democracy, individualism, and representative government, were often promoted at the expense of a more complete understanding of the town's true history. The meaning and purpose of Colonial Williamsburg has changed over time, along with America's changing social and political landscapes, making the study of this historic site a unique and meaningful entry point to understanding the shifting modern American character.

In recent years, financial struggles and declining attendance forced a new interpretation of the town, extending the presentation into the period of the American Revolution, while adding new interpretive approaches such as street theater and a greater emphasis on technology. Over its eighty-year history, says Greenspan, Colonial Williamsburg has grown and matured, while still retaining its emphasis on the importance of eighteenth-century values and their application in the modern world.

Genres: History, American History

226 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2002

Reviews

[Nicole Brown · Rating 1 out of 5]

The bias of this author is astoundingly apparent and the information reads as if it was written almost 50 years before it’s publication.

[Mackenzie Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prep for the public history class I'm teaching in the spring.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a page turner but it reads well and is very informative and well researched.

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry to say, this book was pretty terrible. The author repeats himself so much that I'm pretty sure the length could be cut in half without losing any content. Almost every page was filled with quotations from the Rockefeller archives, and there's very little sense of continuity to the timeline. The last chapter sounds like he got a kickback from CW and mostly regurgitated information from the website. I did learn some interesting information, but it was too few and far between to really recommend this book. It's a bummer because I really wanted to like this!

[Marti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Academically, there is a lot of material in this book, but as others have said, much of it is repetitive. I enjoyed skimming through it, though, and looking at the photos that were included. In all, it read like separate essays, many of which held the same information.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but if he didn't use every letter he read in the Rockefeller archives, I couldn't tell it.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible