The first comprehensive history of Norfolk to appear since 1930, The First Four Centuries tells the story of the city from the first contact between a Spanish sailor and a native American Chiskiack in 1561 to the city's late twentieth-century concerns, including pollution of the Chesapeake Bay, urban development, traffic in illegal guns, and racial tensions. Moving chronologically through more than four centuries, the book combines cultural, economic, political, and social history.

Norfolk's splendid harbor, protected by the region's peculiar geography, made it an early refuge for mariners against the threat of Atlantic pirates and storms and later gave it natural advantages as a seaport. Incorporated as a town in 1680, Norfolk grew to become Virginia's largest city, a bulk exporter and coaling station, and the world's foremost naval base. Norfolk: The First Four Centuries follows this growth in absorbing detail.

Throughout the centuries the city has survived a number of serious threats, from smallpox and yellow fever epidemics to hurricanes and pirates, to total destruction in the Revolutionary War and occupation in the Civil War, to threats from foreign enemies. These stories are all told here, testifying to the city's resiliency.

The book includes the lives and contributions of hundreds of the city's little known citizens as well as its celebrated sons and daughters. It details the roles of blacks, women, and other minorities in building Norfolk and its character. The city's rich diversity is explored, as well as its approach to racial problems. Within the context of state and national events, this book reconstructs the drama and texture of everyday life in the area down through the years.