Books in Brief

The Governor and the Rebel, by Wil- comb E. Washburn (North Carolina Press, $5.00). History is not, sad to say, something that takes care of itself. There is a constant need for revisionist work if history is to remain history and not become propaganda. Therefore Mr. Washburn is to be commended for doing a careful yet readable job of revising the ordinary judgment of a most interesting item of American colonial history, Bacon’s Rebellion. This famous 1676 uprising in Virginia has long been praised as a premature try for independence. But Mr. Washburn proves that no one thought of it that way until 1776 made it politically and sentimentally desirable to do so. Justice, he argues, was largely on Governor Berkeley’s side, and the rebels fought not for freedom but rather for personal profit. In addition to telling an interesting tale well, the author has done a workmanlike historical job.

J. P. MCFADDEN

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The Governor and the Rebel, by Wil- comb E. Washburn (North Carolina Press, $5.00). History is not, sad to say, something that takes care of itself. There is a constant need for revisionist work if history is to remain history and not become propaganda. Therefore Mr. Washburn is to be commended for doing a careful yet readable job of revising the ordinary judgment of a most interesting item of American colonial history, Bacon’s Rebellion. This famous 1676 uprising in Virginia has long been praised as a premature try for independence. But Mr. Washburn proves that no one thought of it that way until 1776 made it politically and sentimentally desirable to do so. Justice, he argues, was largely on Governor Berkeley’s side, and the rebels fought not for freedom but rather for personal profit. In addition to telling an interesting tale well, the author has done a workmanlike historical job.

J. P. MCFADDEN