A Hard Country and a Lonely Place: Schooling, Society, and Reform in Rural Virginia, 1870-1920

William Link’s account of the transformation of Virginia’s country schools between 1870 and 1920 fills important gaps in the history of education and the social history of the South. His theme is the impact of localism and community on the processes of public education — first as a motive force in the spread of schooling, then as a powerful factor that collided with the goals of urban reformers.

After the Civil War, localism dominated every dimension of education in rural Virginia and in the...