WOLFE AT QUEBEC

The history of Wolfe and Montcalm, opposing generals upon the Plains of Abraham, is the traditionally attractive one of two heroic young generals dying with honor for their countries, sharing their finest hour, as the British drive the French from Canada in 1759. Christopher Hibbert here makes use of only recently available letters and diaries to present a somewhat different picture. Hibbert shows us a Wolfe who was weak, neurotic, cruel and rather stupid, but so fanatically brave and dedicated to the cause of British arms and the military ideal that he became the youngest general in the army. According to the evidence here presented, only through the fantastic inefficiency and venality of the French governor, who was able to block the competent and attractive Montcalm at every turn, and the very probable treachery of the French themselves, was a British victory possible at all. The account of the campaign is fascinating in the highest degree, and Hibbert's scholarship, while vast, is nowhere obtrusive. Several maps keep descriptions of positions and battles from becoming too abstract.