The French and Indian War: Deciding the Fate of North America

Great book, lots of in depth analysis

Extremely good. More easily digestible than Crucible of Warwick.

A highly readable, and enjoyable history of this fascinating conflict. First class book. I read a lot of military history; few books I’ve enjoyed so much as this.

I have never read about this part of history I am halfway through it I find it very engrossing

Enjoyed this well written book by a talented American historian. Will now get his book on The War that Forged a Nation.

Still reading it but enjoying the contents.

Excellent book

A very well written and engaging account of the French & Indian War, the North American campaign of the Seven Years War. The book also includes a few chapters about the fighting in the Caribbean, and the numerous maps are a great help. As the author is American, the book is very much written as a precursor to the subsequent American War of Independence, which is regularly referred to.

As must be expected from an American author, Walter R. Borneman gives an American-centric view of the Seven Years War -- known in the U.S. as the French and Indian War, hence the title. To his credit, Borneman recognizes that this conflict was global -- it was truly the first world war. He covers the British and French battles for empire in Asia and Africa, albeit briefly, as well as the familiar story of war in Europe and North America. But his subject is mainly the North American actions. He gives a thorough description from the British North American viewpoint. He gives some due to the French side but this is somewhat superficial. Robert Leckie's book, "A Few Acres of Snow", does the French story much better. Borneman's account is almost entirely from secondary sources, the annotations demonstrating to what extent this is a synthesis of professional histories of the era rather than original research. As a result, the conflicting historical accounts of events are often given although he leaves us in no doubt as to which version of events he prefers. As with all good history, this book dwells on the many and sundry personalities whose decisions and actions moved events forward. He has his heroes and villains, the latter including Major-General James Wolfe, whom he regards as incompetent. He is kinder to figures like Braddock and Amherst than some other authors. He generally respects Montcalm, as do most historians, except for what he considers the blunders of the Plains of Abraham. This war was the culmination of a century of rivalry for the interior of North America between the French and English. For the French it was mostly a matter of the fur trade; for the English, the expansion of settlement. Borneman devotes five chapters to this rivalry with details of the battles that helped lead to the declaration of war. Ten chapters are devoted to the war itself up to 1760, during which time the main actions were fought. The capture of Quebec in 1759 together with the holding of the fortress by the besieged British during the ensuing winter ended the main actions. With France unwilling to allot resources to relieve its colony, the remaining five chapters describe the limited military actions of 1760-1763. These were mostly a mopping up by the British. In keeping with a theme developed by Borneman in his earlier book, "1812", he concludes this study with a chapter discussing how the events of this war both served to unify the British North American Provinces and distance them from their mother country. Although in reality the War of Independence may not have been inevitable, Borneman's thesis makes it seem so. This is a very readable book which carries us along to Borneman's conclusions seamlessly.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was well written and logically describes the charachters and places with sufficeint maps to give you a good undestanding of the events and locations. I was not that fimilar with this time in history, only references of it from Revolutionry War material. This gave me a thorough understanding about the relationship between England & France and how the different Indian tribes were involved. It also related how this time period affected the developement of the 13 original colonies and the future expantion of the United States. The book gives you a stratigic narrative of the events and how they interrelated and also gives you a tactical view of the individul battles. Great history lesson, great reading, you will enjoy it, I did. I highly recommend Walter Borneman's other book on the War of 1812. This book, The French & Indian War, is a very good lead in to the Winning of America seris of books written by Allan W. Eckert.

Good History Book

With all the hoopla surrounding the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War, the French and Indian War often gets lost in the shuffle. I felt that I needed a refresher on what is sometimes called the Seven Years War. This book filled the bill. While not an analytical book, the author provides enough detail for the reader to understand the political forces underlying the decision of both countries to go to war. The book is a bit choppy in its presentation, not least because the hostilities extended far beyond North America. Still, the author does a good job presenting the facts, allowing the reader to form his or her own conclusions about the results of this conflict.

The begining of a Country...