The author of American Colonies. Taylor is an American historian who specializes in colonial North America, the American Revolution and early republic, pre-Confederation Canada, and the American West. He has won several awards and accolades for his work, including two Pulitzer prizes.

A young and charismatic member of the gentry in the colony of Virginia. Bacon led the rebellion named after him in 1676-77 against Governor William Berkeley in a bid to change Virginia’s Indian-Frontier policy and gain power for himself.

Governor of the colony of Virginia from 1642-52. Berkeley allied himself with the wealthy planters and levied heavy taxes on the colonists. He opposed the genocide of the local Algonquian Indians because they were valuable trading partners.