Landon Carter – An Inquiry into the Personal Values and Social Imperatives of the Eighteenth–century Virginia Gentry

Intended as a plausible psychological and intellectual portrait of Landon Carter, thi study attempts to delineate his central character traits and personal values. It calls attention to what motivated him, to the major problems he encountered, how he sought to solve them, and how well he succeeded. His world is viewed in much the way he must have seen it. The book is also an inquiry into the personal values and social imperatives of the eighteenth-century Virginia gentry, for Carter exemplifies the ideas and assumptions that gave structure and coherence to the private and public worlds of that extraordinary group.

Jack P. Greene is Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at The Johns Hopkins University. He has published extensively, and his books include Peripheries and Center: Constitutional Development in the Extended Polities of the British Empire and the United States, 1607-1783; and Pursuits of Happiness: The Social Development of the Early Modern British Colonies and the Formation of American Culture.