Ran out of library renewals right around the Regulator movement, which is fine because I was losing steam with this book. I will try reading [b:The Tar Heel State: A History of North Carolina|1388961|The Tar Heel State A History of North Carolina|Milton Ready|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348424583s/1388961.jpg|1379042] and then perhaps come back to Powell.

Powell's book is an accomplishment, but his approach to history feels even more dated than the 1989 publication date. He writes as if the course of history is inevitable, predictable, and for the most part, desirable. Implicit in the narrative is the assumption that an "official" "state" history is the history of white men.

And no footnotes or endnotes! Seriously now.

Old-school history of the ancient commonwealth of North Carolina. Top down, political history of great white men doing great white deeds. Still, Powell is one of the foremost colonial era historians and he shows the breadth and depth of that knowledge in this work. ( )