Andrew Levy's 'First Emancipator' IS a good book on a fascinating
character and conversion . . . An amusing and cautionary footnote though :
when describing the temptations of 18th-century Williamsburg (First
Emancipator, pp. 17, 225) the author cited a title called "Armitage’s
Impartial List of the Ladies of Pleasure of Williamsburg, with a Preface
by a Celebrated Wit" (Williamsburg, 1775) that turns out to be modern
spoof, entirely bogus, done up to look like an 18th-century publication.
   Last year when I was trying to corroborate a couple of entries in
Thomas Jefferson's Memorandum Books that _MIGHT_ refer to prostitution
(mentioned in Andrew Burstein's 'Jefferson's Secrets'), I went looking
for "Armitage's Impartial List....." based on Levy's citation.
Eventually the folks at Colonial Williamsburg Research Dept. clued me
in to the fact that "Armitage's Impartial List....." was an invented
spoof that sold for a while in tourist shops around Williamsburg.

Jon Kukla


> It is a good book... especially fascinating to me since Carter is an
> ancestor,
> and I had only heard fairly negative things about him from family lore.
> (Refreshing to know that, as I firmly believe, nobody is all good nor all
> bad.)
> -Melinda Skinner
>
>>  -------------- Original message ----------------------
> From: Henry Wiencek <[log in to unmask]>
>> Lonny Watro's remarks about a Baptist ancestor prompt me to put in a
>> plug
>> for Andrew Levy's superb book, "The First Emancipator," about Robert
>> Carter, who was among the first high-status Virginians to become a
>> Baptist.  The book portrays the struggles of the early Baptists against
>> violent abuse, Carter's extraordinary emancipation, and the twists and
>> turns of Carter's religious conversions.  It is one of the best and most
>> enjoyable books I've read on 18th-century Virginia.  A must-read.
>>
>> Henry Wiencek

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