In the Absence of Towns

Reviews / Votes

A welcome addition to the small, but growing, body of work devoted to the social and economic history of the southern colonial frontier. * North Carolina Historical Review * A valuable work . . . useful. * Journal of Southern History * In this well conceived and nicely executed work of historical geography, Charles J. Farmer provides a thorough description and analysis of settlement evolution and patterns of economic life in eighteenth-century Southside Virginia. . . . In the Absence of Towns makes a significant contribution to our understanding of social and economic development in the southern backcountry. It deserves a wide readership. * The Historian * An example of historical geography at its best. His analysis of the networks of trade is much more than an attempt at reconstructing a piece of the economic history of a particular region. Rather, it is an important illumination of the broader patterns of economic and social life in the American backcountry. * Richard R. Beeman * Deftly interweaving the details of meticulous archival research with the generalizations of urban systems theory, the author produces a tapestry of insights on the curiously decentralized trade of backcountry Virginia in the eighteenth century. Farmer provides the fullest documentation to date of the inner workings of the extensive network of country stores which effectively served the region. -- Carville Earle, Louisiana State University Particularly valuable for its clear and thorough discussion of relevant theories and their applicability to backcountry studies. Advanced undergraduates and above. * CHOICE * This is an important book that all students of the early American frontier should consult. * William and Mary Quarterly * In the Absence of Towns will enlighten any reader interested in the development of the rural economy and backcountry settlement patterns. -- Phyllis Whitman Hunter, College of William and Mary The book is important [and Farmer's] argument is well made. The work draws effectively on settlement theory and places attention on a comparative terra incognita in the historical geography of the United States. * Agricultural History * The country store has been much celebrated in the literature on the settlement of the South, but never before has this important economic institution been given the thorough and definitive treatment provided by Charles J. Farmer. . . . [H]istorians should not miss the opportunity to learn from Farmer something of the geographer's craft and to add a dimension of space or an understanding of distance to their interpretations of the past. * Journal of American History *