Philip A. Bruce's "Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century", 2 vols. (1896), is a highly interesting and exhaustive survey. The same author has written "Social Life of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century" (1907) and "Institutional History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century", 2 vols. (1910).
John Fiske's "Virginia and Her Neighbors," 2 vols. (1897), and John E. Cooke's Virginia (American Commonwealth Series, 1883) are written in lighter vein than the foregoing histories and possess much literary distinction.
On Captain John Smith there are writings innumerable. Some writers give credence to Smith's own narratives, while others do not. John Fiske accepts the narratives as history, and Edward Arber, who has edited them (2 vols., 1884), holds that the "General History" (1624) is more reliable than the "True Relation" (1608). On the other side, as doubters of Smith's credibility, are ranged such weighty authorities as Charles Deane, Henry Adams, and Alexander Brown.
Thomas J. Wertenbaker's "Virginia under the Stuarts" (1914) is a painstaking effort to set forth the political history of the colony in the light of recent historical investigation, but the book is devoid of literary attractiveness.
MARYLAND
"The Archives of Maryland", 37 vols. (1883-) contain the official documents of the province. John L. Bozman's "History of Maryland", 2 vols. (1837), contains much valuable material for the years 1634-1658.
J. T. Scharf's "History of Maryland", 3 vols. (1879), is a solid piece of work; but the reader will turn by preference to the more readable books by John Fiske, "Virginia and Her Neighbors", and William H. Browne, "Maryland, The History of a Palatinate" ("American Commonwealth Series," 1884). Browne has also written "George and Cecilius Calvert" (1890).
THE CAROLINAS
"The Colonial Records of North Carolina", 10 vols. (1886-1890), are a mine of information about both North and South Carolina.
Francis L. Hawks's "History of North Carolina", 2 vols. (1857-8), remains the most substantial work on the colony to the year 1729.