Want to brush up on history before you arrive? Looking for a book on a topic that piqued your interest during a recent Elderhostel program? Check out our recommendations below.

Click here for recommended reading for children attending one of our Intergenerational programs.

General Colonial and Revolutionary History

• American Heritage, History of the American Revolution. American Heritage Collection, 2004.
• Billings, Warren M., John E. Selby and Thad W. Tate. Colonial Virginia-A History. KTO Press, 1986.
• Carson, Cary, ed. Becoming Americans: Our Struggle to Be Both Free and Equal. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1998.
• Ellis, Joseph J. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. Vintage, 2002.
• Noel Hume, Ivor. Here Lies Virginia: An Archaeologist's View of Colonial Life and History. University Press of Virginia, 1994.
• Royster, Charles. A Revolutionary People at War: The Continental Army & American Character. University of North Carolina, 1979. 
• Selby, John E. The Revolution in Virginia, 1775-1783. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation [distributed by the University Press of Virginia], 1988.
• Wood, Gordon S. The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787. University of North Carolina, 1998.

Williamsburg/College of William and Mary

• Billings, Warren M., John E. Selby and Thad W. Tate. Colonial Virginia-A History. KTO Press, 1986.
• Carson, Cary, ed. Becoming Americans: Our Struggle to Be Both Free and Equal. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1998.
• Kale, Wilford. Hark upon the Gale: An Illustrated History of the College of William and Mary. Walsworth, 1985.
• Kornwolf, James D. So good a design: The colonial campus of the College of William and Mary : its history, background, and legacy. College of William and Mary, 1989.
• Maccubbin, Robert P., ed. Williamsburg, Virginia: A City Before the State. 1699-1999, A 300th Anniversary History. City of Williamsburg, 2000.
• Rouse, Parke, Jr. Cows on the Campus: Williamsburg in Bygone Days. Dietz Press, 1973.
• Yetter, George Humphrey. Williamsburg Before and After: The Rebirth of Virginia's Colonial Capital. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1988.

Jamestown

• Barbour, Philip L., ed. The Complete Works of John Smith. University of North Carolina, 1986.
• Billings, Warren M. Jamestown and the Founding of the Nation. Thomas Publications.
• Billings, Warren M., John E. Selby and Thad W. Tate. Colonial Virginia-A History. KTO Press, 1986.
• Billings, Warren M. Sir William Berkeley and the Forging of Colonial Virginia. Louisiana State University, 2004.
• Bridenbaugh, Carl. Jamestown 1544-1699. Oxford University Press, 1980.
• Haile, Edward W. Jamestown Narratives: Eyewitness Accounts of the Virginia Colony. Roundhouse, 1998.
• Horn, James. Adapting to a New World: English Society in the Seventeenth-Century Chesapeake. University of North Carolina, 1994.
• Horn, James. A Land as God Made It: Jamestown and the Birth of America. Basic Books, 2005.
• Kelso, William M. and Beverly Straube. Jamestown Rediscovery 1994-2004. The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, 2004.
• Noel Hume, Ivor. The Virginia Adventure: Roanoke to James Towne. Knopf, 1994.
• Rountree, Helen C. Pocahontas-Powhatan-Opechancanough: Three Indian Lives Changed by Jamestown. University of Virginia, 2005.

Yorktown

• Morrissey, Brendan. Yorktown 1781: The World Turned Upside Down, Vol. 47. Osprey, 1997.

Archaeology

• Deetz, James. In Small Things Forgotten: The Archaeology of Early American Life. Anchor Books, 1977.
• Kelso, William M. and Beverly Straube. Jamestown Rediscovery 1994-2004. The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, 2004.
• Noel Hume, Ivor. A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001.
• Noel Hume, Ivor. Here Lies Virginia: An Archaeologist's View of Colonial Life and History. University Press of Virginia, 1994.
• Noel Hume, Ivor. The Virginia Adventure: Roanoke to James Towne. Knopf, 1994.
• Reinhart, Theodore R., ed. The Archaeology of 17th-Century Virginia. Spectrum Press, 1999.
• Reinhart, Theodore R., ed. The Archaeology of 18th-Century Virginia. Spectrum Press, 1996.
• Reinhart, Theodore R., ed. The Archaeology of Shirley Plantation. University of Virginia, 1984.

Biography

• Ammon, Harry. James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity. University Press of Virginia, 1990.
• Billings, Warren M. Sir William Berkeley and the Forging of Colonial Virginia. Louisiana State University, 2004.
• Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. Penguin, 2004.
• Cunningham, Noble. In Pursuit of Reason: The Life of Thomas Jefferson. Ballatine, 1988.
• Ellis, Joseph J. American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson. Random House, 1998.
• Ellis, Joseph J. His Excellency: George Washington. Knopf, 2004.
• Ketcham, Ralph. James Madison: A Biography. University Press of Virginia, 1990.
• McCullough, David. John Adams. Simon and Schuster, 2001.
• McLaughlin, Jack. Jefferson and Monticello: Biography of a Builder. Owl Books, 1990.
• Rakove, Jack. James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic. Longman, 2001.
• Rutland, Robert. James Madison: The Founding Father. University of Missouri Press, 1997.

Indians

• Egloff, Keith and Deborah Woodward. First People: The Early Indians of Virginia. University of Virginia, 1992.
• Rountree, Helen C. Pocahontas-Powhatan-Opechancanough: Three Indian Lives Changed by Jamestown. University of Virginia, 2005.
• Rountree, Helen C. and E. Randolph Turner III. Before and After Jamestown. University of Florida, 2002.

Plantations

• Breen, T.H. Tobacco Culture: The Mentality of the Great Planters on the Eve of the Revolution. Princeton University, 1985.
• Reinhart, Theodore R., ed. The Archaeology of Shirley Plantation. University of Virginia, 1984.
• Roberts, Bruce. Plantation Homes of the James River. University of North Carolina, 1990.

Slavery

• Berlin, Ira. Many Thousand Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America. Belknap Press, 1998.
• Gordon-Reed, Annette. Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy. University of Virginia Press, 1997.
• Holton, Woody. Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves and the Making of the American Revolution. University of North Carolina, 1999.
• Morgan, Edmund S. American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia. W.W. Norton, 1975.
• Morgan, Philip. Slave Counterpoint: Black Culture in the Eighteenth Century Chesapeake and Low-Country. University of North Carolina, 1998. 
• Stanton, Lucia. Free Some Day: The African-American Families of Monticello. Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2002.
• Stanton, Lucia. Slavery at Monticello. Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2002.

Religion

• Bond, Edward L. Damned Souls in a Tobacco Colony. Mercer University, 2000.
• Holmes, David L. A Brief History of the Episcopal Church. Trinity Press International, 1993.
• Holmes, David L. The Faiths of the Founding Fathers. Oxford University Press, 2006.

Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe

• Ambrose, Stephen E. Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West. Simon & Schuster, 1997.
• Ammon, Harry. James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity. University Press of Virginia, 1990.
• Beiswanger, William L., Peter Hatch, Lucia Stanton, Susan Stein, and Wendell Garrett, ed. Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2002.
• Cunningham, Noble. In Pursuit of Reason: The Life of Thomas Jefferson. Ballatine, 1988.
• Cunningham, Noble. Jefferson and Monroe: Constant Friendship and Respect. Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2003.
• Cunningham, Noble. The Presidency of James Monroe. University Press of Kansas, 1996.
• Ellis, Joseph J. American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson. Random House, 1998.
• Ellis, Joseph J. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. Vintage, 2002.
• Gordon-Reed, Annette. Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy. University of Virginia Press, 1997.
• Kasson, John A. The Evolution of the Constitution of the United States of America and History of the Monroe Doctrine. 1985.
• Ketcham, Ralph. James Madison: A Biography. University Press of Virginia, 1990.
• Koch, Adrienne. Jefferson and Madison: The Great Collaboration. Konecky and Konecky, 2004.
• Leepson, Marc. Saving Monticello: The Levy Family's Epic Quest to Rescue the House that Jefferson Built. University Press of Virginia, 2003.
• Mattern, David B., ed. James Madison's "Advice to My Country." University Press of Virginia, 1997.
• McCoy, Drew. The Last of the Fathers: James Madison and the Republican Legacy. Cambridge University Press, 1989.
• McLaughlin, Jack. Jefferson and Monticello: Biography of a Builder. Owl Books, 1990.
• Peterson, Merrill, ed. Thomas Jefferson: Writings: Autobiography/Notes of the State of Virginia/Public and Private Papers/Addresses/Letters. Library of America, 1984.
• Rakove, Jack. James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic. Longman, 2001.
• Rakove, Jack, ed. The Federalist: The Essential Essays, by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003.
• Rakove, Jack, ed. James Madison: Writings. Library of America, 1999.
• Rutland, Robert. James Madison: The Founding Father. University of Missouri Press, 1997.
• Sheldon, Garrett Ward. The Political Philosophy of James Madison. Johns Hopkins University, 2002.
• Smith, James M., ed. The Republic of Letters: The Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, 1776-1826. Norton, 1995.
• Stanton, Lucia. Free Some Day: The African-American Families of Monticello. Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2002.
• Stanton, Lucia. Slavery at Monticello. Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2002.
• Wills, Gary. James Madison. Times Books, 2002. [presidency only]

Other Topics of Interest

• Billings, Warren M. A Little Parliament. Library of Virginia, 2004.
• Brown, Kathleen. Good Wives, Nasty Wenches, and Anxious Patriarchs: Gender, Race, and Power in Colonial Virginia. University of North Carolina, 1996.
• Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. Penguin, 2004.
• Hudson, Carson O., Jr. Civil War Williamsburg. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1997.
• Hudson, Carson O., Jr. These Detestable Slaves of the Devill: A Concise Guide to Witchcraft in Colonial Virginia. Infinity Publishing.com, 2001.
• Lewis, James E., and Beth Cheuk, ed. The Louisiana Purchase: Jefferson's Noble Bargain? Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2003.
• McCullough, David. John Adams. Simon and Schuster, 2001.

Intergenerational Program Reading Guide

Introduce your grandchildren to colonial history before their arrival at an Intergenerational Program. Here are our recommendations:

Bulla, Clyde Robert. A Lion to Guard Us. HarperTrophy.

Description: 128 pages; paperback. Ages 9-12. Author used an actual incident from 1609 as the basis for this book. It is an exciting tale, and engrossing historical fiction as well. Synopsis: Amanda Freebold doesn't know what to do. Her father left three years ago for the new colony of Jamestown , in America , thousands of miles away. All Amanda has to remember him by is a little brass lion's head he gave his family to guard them while he is gone. Now her mother has just died, leaving Amanda to take care of her brother and sister. As head of the family, Amanda decides to take her brother and sister to America to find Father. The ocean crossing is long and hard, and the children don't know whom to trust. But with the lion's head to guard them, Amanda knows that somehow everything will work out fine.

Hakim, Joy. A History of US: Making Thirteen Colonies: 1600-1740. Oxford University Press.

Description: 160 pages. Ages 9-12. Focusing here on Jamestown, the New England Puritans, and the other European colonists, the author brings a formidable amount of illuminating detail to a lively narrative, makes valuable connections between past and present, introduces important concepts in their original context, shares a contagious enthusiasm for history's pivotal ideas, colorful characters, and their stories, distinguishes between documented fact and conjecture, and reiterates such thoughts as that--among imported ideas, as well as both settlers and Indians--``Some are good, some are not so good,'' with examples to prove it. Her careful depiction of the Native American point of view is remarkably evenhanded.

Hakim, Joy. A History of US: From Colonies to Country: 1735-1791. Oxford University Press.

Description: 160 pages. Ages 9-12. How did compliant colonials with strong ties to Europe get the notion to become an independent nation? Perhaps the seeds of liberty were planted in the 1735 historic courtroom battle for the freedom of the press. Or maybe the French and Indian War did it, when colonists were called "Americans" for the first time by the English, and the great English army proved itself not so formidable after all. But for sure when King George III started levying some heavy-handed taxes on the colonies, the break from the motherland was imminent. With such enthralling characters as George Washington, Sam Adams, Patrick Henry, Eliza Pinckney, and Alexander Hamilton throughout, From Colonies to Country is an amazing story of a nation-making transformation.

Ruemmler, John. Smoke on the Water. Shoe Tree Press.

Description: 175 pages, paperback. Ages 12 and up. Ruemmler depicts life in early Jamestown , Va. , through Thomas, age 13, and Eagle Owl, a 15-year-old Powhatan Indian. Although the year is 1621, their worries parallel modern-day issues: facing racism and bullies, tense parent-child relationships and the vagaries of romance. The boys first meet accidentally, halfway between their neighboring settlements. Thomas initially dislikes this rambunctious fellow who playfully beans him and snatches his just-picked strawberries. Eventually, however--and despite a profound language barrier--they communicate a wish to be friends and serve as a "bridge of understanding between their peoples." Yet their embittered families quash such hopes, and after they witness the mutual destruction reaped by the Massacre of 1622, only familial bonds remain.

Nixon, Joan Lowery. Young Americans: Colonial Williamsburg.

Caesar’s Story 1759
Will’s Story 1771
Ann’s Story 1747
Nancy ’s Story 1765

Description: Grades 4-6. In partnership with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation come authentic novels set in the 18th century about actual people, places, and events in this celebrated Virginia town.

Harrah, Madge. My Brother, My Enemy. Simon & Schuster.

Description: 144 pages. Grades 4-7. Fourteen-year-old Robert Bradford must make his own way in the world after a Susquehannock war party massacres his family and burns their cabin, barn, and tobacco shed. Meeting up with Nathaniel Bacon and his followers, Robert finds himself unexpectedly thrown into the political quandary facing residents of Virginia in 1676. Harrah weaves the people, places, and events of Bacon's Rebellion, known as "the dress rehearsal of the American Revolution," into the fabric of the novel, but the main pattern is Robert's story, told in the first person against a background of historical fact. Appended are an author's note, a glossary, and a bibliography. Strong in its sense of period, this historical novel provides a refreshingly different setting, a likeable hero, and an adventurous story.

Brenner, Barbara. If You Lived in Williamsburg in Colonial Days. Scholastic.

Description: 80 pages, paperback, illustrated. Ages 9-12. More than two hundred years ago, two thousand people lived in the town of Williamsburg , Virginia. This book tells you what it was like to grow up in colonial days, before there was a United States of America.