Subject: Daniel M. Friedenberg Date: Saturday 10 October 2011. 4:40 pm. To: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history <[log in to unmask]> From: Jim Glanville <[log in to unmask]> List Members: Sadly, I report the death of Daniel M. Friedenberg on 28 August 2011. His obituary is posted at the following link: http://obits.oregonlive.com/obituaries/oregon/obituary.aspx?n=daniel-m-friedenberg&pid=153593357. I knew Friedenberg only through his 1993 book "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Land: The Plunder of Early America." The following excerpt from William Wyckoff's review of that book ("The William and Mary Quarterly," Third Series, 50(3): 627-629, 1993" will serve as a suitable remembrance for Friedenberg here: Wyckoff wrote: "As the title suggests, Friedenberg argues that no one can understand the evolution of colonial America, the Revolutionary War era, or the early national period without heightened appreciation for the role land speculation and real estate schemes, both real and imagined, played in the process. The result of Friedenberg's effort is an impressive, though sometimes single-minded, synthesis that sweeps the reader through a dizzying series of land transactions and admirably displays the talents of a versatile and engaging scholar. Indeed, the volume succeeds in its two principal tasks. It makes coherent the complex story of land speculation in America before 1800, and it offers a plausible case for reinterpreting important chapters of the colonial and Revolutionary periods to recognize the pivotal role of land hunger in almost every major political conflict and decision." Requiescat in pace Dan Friedenberg. Jim Glanville Blacksburg-in-former-Fincastle-County ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html