author
G. Melvin Herndon
A historian of colonial America, he wrote clearly and often about the deep influence of tobacco on Virginia’s early economy and daily life. His work brings together agriculture, trade, and politics in a way that makes the colonial world feel vivid and real.
1 Audiobook
Tobacco in Colonial Virginia "The Sovereign Remedy"
by G. Melvin Herndon
About the author
G. Melvin Herndon was an American historian whose scholarship focused on colonial history, especially tobacco in early Virginia. Sources from East Carolina University describe him as a writer on colonial history and tobacco culture, and note that he published William Tatham and the Culture of Tobacco as well as other articles and studies in the field.
He taught history at the University of Georgia, where an oral history introduction identifies him as an associate professor, and his obituary says he served on the faculty from 1964 to 1988 before retiring as professor emeritus. The same obituary notes that he earned his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia and had previously served in the U.S. Army during World War II.
Readers are most likely to know him for Tobacco in Colonial Virginia: The Sovereign Remedy, a concise history of how one crop shaped Virginia’s economy and society. His work is especially appealing to listeners who enjoy early American history told through the everyday realities of farming, commerce, and public life.