Paths of Glory: The Life and Death of General James Wolfe

WINNER: 2008 C. P. STACEY PRIZE (Best book in Canadian Military History) WINNER: 2008 DISTINGUISHED BOOK AWARD, SOCIETY OF COLONIAL WARS Ugly, gangling, and tormented by agonising illness, Major General James Wolfe was an unlikely hero. Yet in 1759, on the Plains of Abraham before Quebec, he won a battle with momentous consequences. Wolfe's victory, bought at the cost of his life, ensured that English, not French, would become the dominant language in North America. Ironically, by crippling French ambitions on this continent Wolfe paved the way for American independence from Britain. Already renowned for bold leadership, Wolfe's death at the very moment of victory at Quebec cemented his heroic status on both sides of the Atlantic. He became an icon of patriotic self-sacrifice, immortalised in epic paintings and verse. During the past half century, however, Wolfe's reputation has undergone sustained assault by revisionist historians who see him as a bloodthirsty and self-righteous mediocrity, famous for one singularly lucky - though crucial - victory. Was there more to James Wolfe than a celebrated death? Stephen Brumwell's internationally praised biography seeks to answer that question, drawing on extensive research to offer a boldly argued reassessment of a soldier whose short but dramatic life changed the course of world history.

"a well-researched, splendidly written book. Highly recommended." J.L. Granatstein

Tormented by agonising illness, British Major General James Wolfe was an unlikely hero. In 1759, however, he led a successful attack on French troops on the Plains of Abraham above Quebec, ensuring that Britain, not France, would become the dominant power in North America. By crippling French ambitions on the continent, Wolfe also paved the way for American independence from Britain. Wolfe won the Battle of the Plains of Abraham - but he lost his life on the battlefield. He was thirty-two years old. His death at the very moment of victory at Quebec gained him posthumous fame and veneration as a founding father of the British Empire, cementing his heroic status on both sides of the Atlantic. Epic paintings of Wolfe's dying moments transformed him into an icon of patriotic self-sacrifice and a role model for Horatio Nelson, the English admiral who fought in the Napoleonic Wars. Wolfe's reputation has recently undergone sustained assault by revisionist historians who cast him as a bloodthirsty and mediocre general who owed his fame to one singularly lucky - though crucial - victory.In the first full-length biography of Wolfe to appear in almost half a century acclaimed writer and historian Stephen Brumwell draws on a wide range of sources - many of them previously unpublished - to boldly and vividly reassess the life of a soldier whose short but dramatic life altered the course of world history.

The first full-length biography of James Wolfe in half a century: Was Wolfe a hero or a bloodthirsty thug?

Stephen Brumwell is the acclaimed author of Redcoats and White Devil. He lives in Amsterdam.