Synopses & Reviews
Montcalme and Wolfe frames the war years through the lives of its two brilliant opposing generals. Weaving together the campaigns on both sides of the Atlantic. Parkman travels from opulent royal courts to muddy colonial fields, from Fort Necessity to the Plains of Abraham. He couples impeccable history with rich insightful narration, revealing the war as a deeply personal conflict between Louis de Montcalm and James Wolfe, the two ambitious leaders who ultimately died heroes deaths on the frontlines. Accompanied by over forty detailed maps and illustrationssome selected specially for this editionParkmans timeless work shows how the enormous transfer of land from France to England at the wars end sowed the first seeds of colonialismseeds that, in the due course, led America to its revolution, and eventually, its independence.
Synopsis
Francis Parkman thought of Montcalm and Wolfe (1884) as his masterpiece, and that estimate has prevailed for more than a century. At its heart lies the gripping story of the struggle between France and England for control of North America, the French and Indian Wars. Parkman marshals facts and anecdotes to make us eyewitnesses to this confrontation on both sides of the Atlantic, from the royal courts to the colonial fields and forests, where war began with the defeat of George Washington's Virginia militia at Fort Necessity in 1754 and did not end until 1759, on Quebec's Plains of Abraham, with the tragic deaths of the brilliant opposing generals, Louis de Montcalm and James Wolfe. The author masterfully explains the military strategies, giving the reader vivid descriptions of such battles as Louisbourg, Fort Frontenac, and Ticonderoga, the besieged stronghold that Montcalm's greatly outnumbered soldiers defended against Wolfe's troops. Problems of logistics, armament, morale, and corruption all receive close attention, as do the major participants, both military and political: Montcalm, Wolfe, Amherst, Bigot, Pitt, Madame de Pompadour, Washington, and Franklin.This edition, lavishly illustrated and designed, makes abundantly clear Parkman's insight and skill. The result is history as literature.
Synopsis
He who opens these pages for the first time faces a rich experience.-C. Vann Woodward.
About the Author
Francis Parkman (18231893) wrote the epic seven-volume study France and England in North America, which established him as one of the greatest historians of America.C. Vann Woodward (19081999) is noted for his influential histories of the South, among which Mary Chesnuts Civil War won the Pulitzer Prize in 1982. During his lifetime he was a distinguished professor at Yale University, the University of Virginia, and Johns Hopkins University.