The Varieties of Political Experience in Eighteenth-Century America

Ranging from Virginia, Massachusetts, New York, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania to the backcountry regions of the South, the Mid-Atlantic, and northern New England, "The Varieties of Political Experience in Eighteenth-Century America" offers an ambitious overview of political life in pre-Revolutionary America.

Richard R. Beeman is Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania. He is coeditor of Beyond Confederation: The Origins of the American Constitution and National Identity and author of The Evolution of the Southern Backcountry: A Case Study of Lunenburg County, Virginia, 1746-1832, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

"Beautifully written and clearly reasoned... A synthesis that bears the unmistakable imprint of a master historian. In Beeman's hands, familiar material takes on a new meaning and provides fresh insights into the eighteenth-century experiences of America's colonial past."-American Historical Review "A major contribution to the study of colonial American politics: for scholars, it will help crystallize their thinking about colonial politics; for graduate students, it will serve as little short of a godsend."-New Perspectives on the Eighteenth Century "Beeman has made a valuable contribution to the historiography of colonial British America by synthesizing a large body of research about political experience in the eighteenth century."-North Carolina Historical Review "An excellent and engagingly written historical synthesis that manages to be both nuanced and broad. It combines a wealth of empirical information with incisive analysis."-The Historian