This work follows the history of Virginia from the ascent of the Stuart king Charles I in 1625 that point until 1660--one of the most turbulent times in English history. The central colonial figure during this period of Virginia history was Sir William Berkeley, who served as royal governor, with interruptions, between 1642 and 1676. The period under study by Professor Washburn ends with the Restoration and, in an act unprecedented in American colonial history, the recall of William Berkeley by the Virginia Assembly in 1659.