Loading...
39th out of 69 books
—
4 voters
My rating:
add to my books
The French and Indian War: Deciding the Fate of North America
In the summer of 1754, deep in the wilderness of western Pennsylvania, a very young George Washington suffered his first military defeat, and a centuries-old feud between Great Britain and France was rekindled. The war that followed would decide the fate of the entire North American continent--not just between Great Britain and France, but for the Spanish and Native Ameri
...moreHardcover, 360 pages
Published
October 31st 2006
by HarperCollins Publishers
(first published 2006)
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
152)
Narrative history at its most entertaining - also at its lightest. Borneman has a great gift for narrative, for telling a story. He holds the reader's interest - the pages fly by - and he tells us much about the French and Indian War. He places this conflict in its world-wide context, not limiting it to the familiar events in North America, but detailing often neglected battles, ones in far off quarters of the world, such as the British capture of Manila. He even includes, as a bonus follow ...more
I'm getting ready for a NYC-Montreal road trip in '10, and I bought this book as a guide. It's an interesting insight into the war that really set in motion America's road to independence.
Borneman is at his best describing the machinations of William Pitt, the only European of his day to understand the price of Empire and the tactics of global war. France, its foreign policy dominated by the lover of Louis XV, puts minimal effort into securing Canada and seems unconcerned once it is lost.
Three...more
Borneman is at his best describing the machinations of William Pitt, the only European of his day to understand the price of Empire and the tactics of global war. France, its foreign policy dominated by the lover of Louis XV, puts minimal effort into securing Canada and seems unconcerned once it is lost.
Three...more
In high school and college the French and Indian War was this long amorphous event in between settling the colonies and the American Revolution. It took a movie, The Patriot, to give some color to the story in colonists fought in that war, found it brutal, and took tactics learned there into the fight against the British. In His Excellency: George Washington this was confirmed as many of Washington's officers earned their British commissions by fighting in this war.
The American Revol...more
The American Revol...more
In my attempts to become an amateur historian, I have decided that it's best to pick an area to become an expert on. The numbers of people who specialize in the Civil War or the War for Independence are legion. Even though I love the Revolutionary period, there seems to be a paucity of books and experts on the French and Indian War, the North American branch of the Seven Years War.
This book was my first serious look at the period and I found it a good choice. It reads easily, is w...more
This book was my first serious look at the period and I found it a good choice. It reads easily, is w...more
Really good, quick read on this world-changing war. Mr. Borneman goes into the details and motivations behind the two major powers fighting the war and the blunders they both made in executing the war. Amazing, really, that the British performance in the war mirrors U.S. performance in many wars - incompetence, stalemate, a search for competent leadership, hard-fought actions with new tactics, then enough strategic victories over an exhausted opponent to force a win. Even showed the roots of ...more
Walter Borneman provides a accurate and succinct summary of the French and Indian War (Seven Years War) and its effect on the American colonies. The book tracks the campaigns and political tidings in North America during the war and shows the overwhelming force that England brought to bear against the French colonies in Canada. The book primarily covers the American parts of the war but does digress to cover the Caribbean, Manila and India as it relates to the global political strategy of Willia...more
This is the third of Walter Borneman's books that I've read (the other two being Polk and 1812). While his style is readable narrative history and is certainly loaded with facts and research, his style of writing seems hit-or-miss to me. In certain moments, Borneman's language lapses into colloquialism, such as his statement of, "War with Spain? Bring it on!" These lapses have a jarring effect on me as a reader and often require several pages of further reading to put them out of my...more
When I started this book, I thought, Oh great, another French and Indian War history, but it's giving me new insight into the French stance on the war. Borneman is fleshing out the French interests in colonial America, and their efforts to colonize and make a strong stand here, while maintaining their war with England in Europe at the same time.
There are lagging parts, but overall, I'm learning a lot of French perspective. It also explains the uprising that is always defined as Po...more
There are lagging parts, but overall, I'm learning a lot of French perspective. It also explains the uprising that is always defined as Po...more
This is an excellent book. Walter Borneman, makes the history of this period come alive. This book tells the story of the prelude to the American Revolution, the period from 1754 to 1763. In the end after driving out the French from the Ohio valley and Canada, and the battles in the Caribbean, India and the Philippines, Great Britain needed to pay for its global expansion during the Seven Years War, so they enact the Stamp Tax and Townsend Act upon the American Colonists sowing the seeds of the ...more
This was a wonderful and detailed telling of the French and Indian War. The details about the battles and more importantly the political climate of the times made this an enjoyable read. It could get mildly text book-ish at times, but overall is a great read for anyone looking to dig in to U.S. history and the events that led to The American Revolution.
As a native of New York state, where much of the French and Indian War took place, I was extremely deficient in my knowledge of this war which was a prelude to the American Revolution. This book filled in the gaps in my information deficit in fairly interesting way, but the detailed descriptions of each battle were a little dry to me. Perhaps a real fan of military history would find them more appealing. However, I did enjoy the author's characterizations of the key players in the conflict an...more
A great review of the conflict with ample background information the American reader may not have been familiar with.
Steve
marked it as to-read
Came upon this book while browsing in The Commons Borders with Christopher on Saturday, 21 August 2010.
I love being able to read about history which took place in places I am familiar with.
Excellent book on this wonderful topic. Well worth the read.
I like my non fiction a bit more readable. while the information was great, something in the layout and storytelling (all good history is storytelling) was a bit heavy going on this particular book. Loved the detail, would just like to see it reworked a bit.
Just started, good so far.
Borneman is a competant, though not stellar writer. This was not a captivating read, but plenty informative on the subject. Easy to read. He inserts his own conjecture a bit too often for my taste. I am glad to have read the book however, as it did provide me a basic working knowledge of the War, whereas before I had none at all.
Excellent book that is both informative and fun. Small interesting chapters make this book a pleasurable reading experience.
Interesting subject, poorly written. I'm sure that there are better books on the topic.
Abigail Hartman
is currently reading it
Ryan
marked it as to-read
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
