University Of Virginia

The definitive treatment of Mr. Jefferson's favorite institution, with an updated section on entering the twenty-first century. In the nearly two centuries since the first building's completion in Thomas Jefferson's academical village, programs and facilities at the University of Virginia have been continually expanded and updated. The four years since the first publication of The University of Virginia: A Pictorial History have been no exception to that tradition: science and technology, athletics, public service, international programs, business, and the arts are just a few of the current growth areas at Mr. Jefferson's university. When the Board of Visitors approved a new master plan for growth and development in 1999--and the capital campaign of 2000 supported its ambitious outline with a $1.4 billion purse--they set in motion massive upgrades at the university. A South Lawn complex and "groundswalk" to reconnect the sprawling areas of the university, a new special collections library, expanded.

This collection of essays on seventeenth-century Virginia, the first such collection on the Chesapeake in nearly twenty-five years, highlights emerging directions in scholarship and helps set a new agenda for research in the next decade and beyond. The contributors represent some of the best of a younger generation of scholars who are building on, but also criticizing and moving beyond, the work of the so-called Chesapeake School of social history that dominated the historiography of the region in the 1970s and 1980s. Employing a variety of methodologies, analytical strategies, and types of evidence, these essays explore a wide range of topics and offer a fresh look at the early religious, political, economic, social, and intellectual life of the colony. Contributors Douglas Bradburn, Binghamton University, State University of New York * John C. Coombs, Hampden-Sydney College * Victor Enthoven, Netherlands Defense Academy * Alexander B. Haskell, University of California Riverside * Wim Klooster, Clark University * Philip Levy, University of South Florida * Philip D. Morgan, Johns Hopkins University * William A. Pettigrew, University of Kent * Edward DuBois Ragan, Valentine Richmond History Center * Terri L. Snyder, California State University, Fullerton * Camilla Townsend, Rutgers University * Lorena S. Walsh, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

In contrast with the U.S. Constitution, which has been amended only 27 times since it was drafted in 1787, the Virginia Constitution has been the subject of many revisions since its adoption by the Convention of 1776. Significant changes have been brought about at the recommendation of revision commissions. On a number of those occasions, Virginia constitution makers have engaged in significant debates about fundamental questions. In fact, few states have had more opportunities to engage in constitutional revision and to debate fundamental principles. In The Virginia State Constitution, John Dinan analyzes the history and development of the Virginia constitution and undertakes a detailed treatment of the evolving interpretation of each section. In it, he contends that few states have had more opportunities than Virginia to engage in constitutional revision, and, in the process, to debate fundamental political questions about the role of state government. Previously published by Greenwood, this title has been brought back in to circulation by Oxford University Press with new verve. Re-printed with standardization of content organization in order to facilitate research across the series, this title, as with all titles in the series, is set to join the dynamic revision cycle of The Oxford Commentaries on the State Constitutions of the United States. The Oxford Commentaries on the State Constitutions of the United States is an important series that reflects a renewed international interest in constitutional history and provides expert insight into each of the 50 state constitutions. Each volume in this innovative series contains a historical overview of the states constitutional development, a section-by-section analysis of its current constitution, and a comprehensive guide to further research. Under the expert editorship of Professor G. Alan Tarr, Director of the Center on State Constitutional Studies at Rutgers University, this series provides essential reference tools for understanding state constitutional law. Books in the series can be purchased individually or as part of a complete set, giving readers unmatched access to these important political documents.