THE GREAT WAR FOR THE EMPIRE: The Victorious Years 1758-60

by Lawrence Henry Gipson ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

The first three volumes of this monumental history of Britain's war for Empire, were published by Caxton; the subsequent volumes, of which this is Vol. VII, by Knopf. This opens with the accession to power of Pitt, the Great Commoner; and closes with the end of Anglo-French hostilities in America, the conquest of Canada by the British, after disastrous setbacks, and the finale of one phase of a world war, the Seven Years' War. We in America are so accustomed to thinking in terms of our isolated struggle for independence, that we fail to realize that it was conditioned largely upon Europe's history. This volume is therefore exceedingly pertinent to more profound understanding of a period which has given us a number of important novels in the last decade. Kenneth Roberts, John Jennings, Harvey Allen, all have drawn upon the richness of material of which this volume gives us the detailed historical background. It was a period that found the colonies shifting from an assumption that their defenses must be borne by the British, to a conception of their own responsibilities. There was disaffection to be overcome, from the Carolinas to New England. There was inter-colony jealousy. There were spots of courageous resistance- the Rangers of whom so much has been written; the attack on Louisbourg; the cooperation-spottily- with Forbes' venture on Ft. Duquesne (though opposed by Washington). After the fall of Louisbourg, the Indian hostility to the British began to alter. And with the Fall of Quebec, the fate of New France was sealed. Vastly detailed in its scholarship, this will stand as a standard work for historians.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1949

Categories: NONFICTION