The Dividing Line Histories of William Byrd II of Westover

“Byrd’s expedition in 1728 aimed to settle a border dispute. His two accounts have been recognized as crucial documents in colonial history, as well as early classics of American literature. Berland’s superbly documented edition crosses many disciplinary boundaries to establish the best text of each narrative and the fullest analysis of their cultural import.” — Pat Rogers, University of South Florida

“Berland’s edition offers useful contextual material, extensive scholarly annotation, and theoretical sophistication. His characterization of Byrd’s texts as a hybrid, accretional narrative is genuinely groundbreaking and will transform scholarship on early American historiography.” — Susan Castillo, King’s College London

“Meticulously transcribed and graced with a deeply insightful introduction that smoothly integrates the perspectives and concerns of historians and literary scholars, this is by far the best edition yet of Byrd’s twin classics of early American literature.” — James Rice, State University of New York at Plattsburgh

“Berland has not only offered the finest and most detailed contextualization of Byrd’s travels and their narratives, but he has also helped recover their author as a complicated man of letters.” — Virginia Magazine

“Berland has clearly set the new scholarly standard for these classic texts.” — Journal of American History

“This scholarly apparatus locates the literary sources for some of Byrd’s anecdotes and language, traces minor characters through the neglected local records of these borderlands, and contextualizes many of the broader concerns of early eighteenth century colonial elites. Because of Berland’s comprehensive genealogy of Byrd’s textual influences, other scholars can now make full use of the dividing line histories to imagine the intellectual and literary world of learned colonists.” — William and Mary Quarterly

“Promises both to enrich students’ understandings of Byrd and to reinvigorate scholarly work on the Histories.” — Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies

“Read[s] at times like a romp through rhetorical artifices used by writers from antiquity up to the times of Smollett, Fielding, and Addison.” — Humanities

“An impressive, meticulously edited volume that reintroduces scholars to one of the early America’s most engaging authors. . . . Highly recommended to all scholars of colonial America.” — Journal of Southern History

“An impressive, meticulously edited volume that reintroduces scholars to one of early America’s most engaging authors.” — Journal of Southern History