Landon Carter's Uneasy Kingdom

Revolution and Rebellion on a Virginia Plantation

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States, Colonial Period (1600-1775), Revolutionary Period (1775-1800), Biography & Memoir, Historical
Cover of the book Landon Carter's Uneasy Kingdom by Rhys Isaac, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Rhys Isaac ISBN: 9780199884988
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: September 29, 2005
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Rhys Isaac
ISBN: 9780199884988
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: September 29, 2005
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

Landon Carter, a Virginia planter, left behind one of the most revealing of all American diaries. In this astonishingly rich biography, Isaac mines this remarkable document--and many other sources--to reconstruct Carter's interior world as it plunged into revolution. The aging patriarch, though a fierce supporter of American liberty, was deeply troubled by the rebellion and its threat to established order. His diary, originally a record of plantation business, began to fill with angry stories of revolt in his own little kingdom. Carter writes at white heat, his words sputtering from his pen as he documents the terrible rupture that the Revolution meant to him. Indeed, Carter felt in his heart that he was chronicling a world in decline, the passing of the order that his revered father had bequeathed to him. Not only had Landon's king betrayed his subjects, but Landon's own household betrayed him: his son showed insolent defiance, his daughter Judith eloped with a forbidden suitor, all of his slaves conspired constantly, and eight of them made an armed exodus to freedom. The seismic upheaval he helped to start had crumbled the foundations of Carter's own home. In Landon Carter's Uneasy Kingdom Rhys Isaac unfolds not only the life, but also the mental world of our countrymen in a long-distant time. Moreover, in this presentation of Landon Carter's passionate narratives, the diarist becomes an arresting new character in the world's literature, a figure of Shakespearean proportions, the Lear of his own tragic kingdom. This long-awaited work will be seen both as a major contribution to Revolution history and a triumph of the art of biography.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Landon Carter, a Virginia planter, left behind one of the most revealing of all American diaries. In this astonishingly rich biography, Isaac mines this remarkable document--and many other sources--to reconstruct Carter's interior world as it plunged into revolution. The aging patriarch, though a fierce supporter of American liberty, was deeply troubled by the rebellion and its threat to established order. His diary, originally a record of plantation business, began to fill with angry stories of revolt in his own little kingdom. Carter writes at white heat, his words sputtering from his pen as he documents the terrible rupture that the Revolution meant to him. Indeed, Carter felt in his heart that he was chronicling a world in decline, the passing of the order that his revered father had bequeathed to him. Not only had Landon's king betrayed his subjects, but Landon's own household betrayed him: his son showed insolent defiance, his daughter Judith eloped with a forbidden suitor, all of his slaves conspired constantly, and eight of them made an armed exodus to freedom. The seismic upheaval he helped to start had crumbled the foundations of Carter's own home. In Landon Carter's Uneasy Kingdom Rhys Isaac unfolds not only the life, but also the mental world of our countrymen in a long-distant time. Moreover, in this presentation of Landon Carter's passionate narratives, the diarist becomes an arresting new character in the world's literature, a figure of Shakespearean proportions, the Lear of his own tragic kingdom. This long-awaited work will be seen both as a major contribution to Revolution history and a triumph of the art of biography.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book A New Introduction to American Constitutionalism by Rhys Isaac
Cover of the book The Scleroderma Book by Rhys Isaac
Cover of the book Prisons and Jails: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide by Rhys Isaac
Cover of the book Differences by Rhys Isaac
Cover of the book Apartheid and Beyond by Rhys Isaac
Cover of the book Orientalism and Islam: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide by Rhys Isaac
Cover of the book Poverty, Agency, and Human Rights by Rhys Isaac
Cover of the book Crisis of Conservatism?:The Republican Party, the Conservative Movement, and American Politics After Bush by Rhys Isaac
Cover of the book Pediatric Ethics by Rhys Isaac
Cover of the book Chinese Social Policy in a Time of Transition by Rhys Isaac
Cover of the book Triumph of the Heart by Rhys Isaac
Cover of the book The Making of Miracles in Indian States by Rhys Isaac
Cover of the book The First Passage by Rhys Isaac
Cover of the book A Little Princess Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library by Rhys Isaac
Cover of the book The Monkey Wars by Rhys Isaac
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy