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Montcalm And Wolfe | 
 enlarge | Author: Francis Parkman
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Category: Book
List Price: $20.00
Buy Used: $0.98
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Avg. Customer Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 1737364
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 672
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.4 x 1.4
ISBN: 0306806215
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.26
EAN: 9780306806216
ASIN: 0306806215
Publication Date: March 21, 1995
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: shelf D1
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Product Description
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.
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The result of over forty years of passionate research, Montcalm and Wolfe is the epic story of Europe's struggle for dominance of the New World. Centuries of rivalry and greed between the great imperial powers culminated in five brutal years of war; resulted in the death of both generals, Louis de Montcalm and James Wolfe; and ultimately sowed the seeds of the American Revolution, fought a scant seventeen years later. A brilliant work of scholarship as well as a riveting read, Montcalm and Wolfe was thought by many, including the author, to be Parkman's greatest work. It is an essential part of any military history collection.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...
 Montcalm and Wolfe June 20, 2008
Although a bit tedious at times, Francis Parkman gathers all facts leading up to the climax at the Plains of Abraham.
Timeless Classic December 3, 2007
History as it should be written. Francis Parkman recounts exactly what happened during the Seven Years War in America, or the French and Indian War, as most of us refer to it. He does not wallow in the whiny, hand wringing, pseudo-scholarship of today's politically correct crowd. His prose sings with a lyricism so utterly lacking in the leaden efforts of today's academic historians. If you want to learn about the French and Indian War, look no further than this masterpiece.
 Great Prose, bad information December 14, 2006
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
While this book is a classic in American history it does not compare to modern histories. While Parkman selectively uses his evidence and omits key details the prose is very good. Overall though this book should not be used due to the inaccuracies. He also omits the contributions of the Indians which was a decisive factor in the war. See either Crucible of War, Empires at war or The Scratch of a Pen.
A classic May 21, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Despite having been first published in 1884, Montcalm and Wolfe is still among the most informative books on the subject of the French and Indian war and by and far the most entertaining and least boring available unlike some works recently published.
Highly informative. A joy to read. Pleasant reading for those interested in the subject or just plain interested in reading a good book.
Beautiful prose - Questionable objectivity March 11, 2005
18 out of 19 found this review helpful
Francis Parkman (1823-1893) was the first great American historian and today the most prestigious award in the field bears his name. "Montcalm and Wolfe" represents volumes six and seven of his celebrated study on the Anglo-French conflict in North America. This book is more than an excellent history of a seminal but largely forgotten conflict; it is nothing less than a work of literary art and very much a piece of American history itself.
Even if you have little interest in the Seven Years' War or the colonial-era in general, Parkman's writing alone is reason enough to put "Montcalm and Wolfe" on your reading list. Here is one notable, but by no means unusual, example of Parkman's narrative abilities, which describes the journey of colonial troops through the marshes around Lake Oneida in upstate New York in 1755:
"Thither the bateaux were dragged on sledges and launched on the dark and tortuous stream, which, fed by a decoction of forest leaves that oozed from the marshy shores, crept in shadow through depths of foliage, with only a belt of illumined sky gleaming between the jagged tree-tops. Tall and lean with straining towards the light, their rough, gaunt stems trickling with perpetual damps, stood on either hand the silent hosts of the forest. The skeletons of their dead, barkless, blanched and shattered, strewed the mudbanks and shallows; others lay submerged, like bones of drowned mammoths, thrusting lank, white limbs above the sullen water; and great trees, entire as yet, were flung by age or storms athwart the current - a bristling barricade of matted boughs."
Parkman's descriptions of Braddock's defeat on the Monongahela, the eviction of the Acadians, the siege of Louisbourg and the Battle of Quebec, to name just a few, are so vivid and intense that the images are seared into the reader's mind. I had read about these events several times before, often by skilled historians, but reading Parkman is like being there.
Parkman's work is built on exhaustive primary research and his extensive quotes from the personal letters of the leading figures on both sides of the conflict are fascinating and illuminating. That said, his history is hardly objective. To begin with, he is unabashedly Anti-Catholic. With the exception of the nurse-nuns at Quebec, everyone associated with the Church in Canada is described as completely venal and manipulative. In fact, he attributes much of the war - especially the barbarity of the French-Indian allies - to the actions of local priests, who in turn received tacit support from Versailles. He also wears his anglophilia on his sleeve. He spends much time and effort defending the British actions in displacing the entire Catholic population of Acadia in 1755: it was the priests that fostered opposition to allegiance to King George II; the British actions in Acadia went above-and-beyond to ensure the protection of religious freedom among the Acadians; all the British asked was neutrality; the Acadians themselves are described as simpletons easily manipulated by the French and priests; English settlers didn't appear in Acadia for five years "proving" that the British weren't motivated by a land grab; etc.
One of the more interesting aspects of this non-PC approach is the portrayal of the Native-Americans on both sides. Nearly all contemporary histories go out of their way, it seems, to take the rough edges off of Indian warfare and the result of raids on the frontier. Parkman describes the tribes and their acts in graphic detail: scalping, torture, cannibalism, slavery, etc. The reader gets a palpable sense of the fear an Indian war whoop must have instilled in colonists who no doubt had heard the stories of what happened to those sorry souls that fell into Indian hands.
Finally, there are two basic types of characters in Parkman's writing: good guys and bad guys. The former includes, above all, Montcalm and Wolfe, but also Lord Howe, Roger and his "Rangers," and one other French general, Levi. The latter group is led by the French Governor-General Vaudreiul and the knaves that supplied New France (especially Bigot and Pean) and represented by General Abercromby on the British side (he actually defends Braddock).
In short, "Montcalm and Wolfe" is like reading history written by Saul Bellow. It is one of the most important history books ever written in the English language and easily a classic of American military history.
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