University of Georgia Press, 1996

This volume, by our leading scholar of the laws of slavery in Virginia, has much to recommend it. In the end, however, it does not live up to expectations. That is mot inexcusable, because Schwarz carries us farther than we have ventured before. In fact, he is aware of the tentativeness of some of his work, as he notes in one of the more innovative sections of the book, the opening chapter.