Empire Of Fortune [Paperback]

Jennings Francis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 17, 1990

The third volume of the "Covenant Chain" trilogy, this work restores the Indians to the history of colonial America as human beings and shatters the myth of their savagery. It also revises the popular images of Wolfe and Montcalm.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Seven Years War (aka the French and Indian War) pitted the British and French empires against each other in a grab for the homeland of American Indians. This riveting, massively documented epic overturns textbook cliches concerning the struggle. Jennings argues that the Indians made every effort to avoid taking up arms; that they were forced into battle by land frauds, assaults and direct interference; that certain generals, far from being gallant heroes, used terror against their own troops and civilians. Here is Thomas Penn, renouncing his father William's Quaker faith and launching conspiracies that fueled fighting; George Washington lying to the Delawares; Ben Franklin supporting expansionism to his own political ends. Colonists' anger at war taxes and conscription sowed the seeds of the American Revolution. Completing a trilogy begun with The Invasion of America and The Ambiguous Iroquois Empire, this impassioned study throws valuable light on our history.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Jennings offers the first study of America during the Seven Years' War (1754-63) in almost two decades. He views the war as both part of the worldwide conflict between the British and the French and as a prelude to the American Revolution. As the final volume of Jennings's trilogy on Native Americans in early America, this ethnohistory emphasizes the importance and the different political goals of the many tribes engaged in the struggle and challenges the romanticized accounts of previous historians such as Francis Parkman, Daniel Boorstin, and others. Well-written, witty, and meticulously researched, this deserves to be read by scholars and interested general readers. David Szatmary, Univ. of Washington Extension, Seattle
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 548 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc. (March 17, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393306402
• ISBN-13: 978-0393306408
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #397,718 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Empire of Fortune by Francis Jennings, November 8, 2000

By 

Rex Ward (Tooele, Utah USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Empire of Fortune: Crowns, Colonies & Tribes in the Seven Years War in America (Hardcover)

This book is the third in a series by the author. The first one, entitled "The Invasion of America: Indians, Colonialism, and the Cant of Conquest," deals with the Puritan conquest of New England. The second one, entitled "The Ambiguous Iroquois Empire: The Covenant Chain Confederation of Indian Tribes with English Colonies," deals with colonial/Indian relations up to the the Treaty of Lancaster in 1744. This third book picks up the story from there and goes through the French and Indian War. Each can be read separately, but once you've read one, you will want to read them all.

If you are looking for a book that breathes new life into an old subject, then this book is for you. The purpose of this book, according to the author, is to correct "a record that has been badly botched in previous accounts by 'authoritative colleagues.'" Thus, Jennings wants to destroy old stereotypes and myths, some of which have been perpetuated for more than a century and a half.

Jennings talks about the politics of the day, and the why's and wherefore's of historical events. He deals with all the familiar historical figures, but sheds new light on them and their motives. He defends the oft-maligned Quakers and attacks those who have given them a bad name, exposing their agendas. Jennings wants the reader to see both the Red Man and the White Man as human beings who sought their own interests, and often places historical events in that light. He especially goes out of his way to demonstrate that Indians were rational beings who often manipulated White and Red alike to obtain their ends. He exposes the poor scholarship of revered authors, such as Parkman, the Beards,and Boorstin. Jennings sees Parkman as "a racsist of the venomous type" and a disciple of Social Darwinism, a theory he was willing to distort his sources for in order to substantiate.

The book is impeccably written and researched, and boasts a wonderful bibliography. The author's approach is one of ethnohistory and rejects "the concept of race as fallacious and vicious." Instead, he follows "the example of modern anthropologists by using the culture concept" as his basic tool of analysis.

Jennings often writes in catagoric terms, and does not fear documented, bare-knuckled criticism of others who have written in this field. Although he can come across as a self-proclaimed superauthority, the reader will do well to remember that he believes that "[a]ll histories are interpretations by writers predisposed by personal experience and cultural imperatives, and prone to human error." It was not his intention to write a definitive history. His primary goal was to "open the field rather than close it" to a new method of interpretation.

Although he is willing "to acknowledge error when it is demonstrated," he "can be pretty firm when error is only asserted." Anyone who tries to demonstrate Jennings' errors had better go well-versed in primary sources and prepared to take a few lumps.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Opinionated - but Excellent History, October 23, 1999

By 

A Nony Mouse (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Empire Of Fortune (Paperback)

This is an excellent climax to his 'Covenant Chain' trilogy. This work and the books that preceded them are instrumental in attempting to revise two hundred years of historical tradition. This is not a narrative work of military history. This is investigative reporting of the past. It is challenging, in your face, and above all passionate. This is a great book for someone familiar with the French and Indian War and is looking for a different perspective on the intertwining of Anglo and Native cultures.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Masterful Ethnohistory, January 27, 2008

By 

Chimonsho (Turtle Island) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Empire Of Fortune (Paperback)

The late Francis Jennings's trilogy consummates his life work of creating an accurate, humane view of colonial Indian-European relations. This is clearly not an operational history, so readers hoping for a full military narrative must look elsewhere. EOF is adequate on battles, but its strengths are political-miltary affairs, the Seven Years' War's global context, and nuanced description of indigenous societies facing unprecedented challenges. It robustly brings to life many dynamic personalities, and is very blunt, even harsh--but not unfair--toward historians (Gipson, Boorstin, Bailyn and especially Parkman) fostering ethnocentric biases about early America. Eradicating errors isn't always pretty. The author also confirms Quakers' crucial role in ending Pennsylvania's frontier war. Government and academia sometimes treated Jennings shabbily, in person and in print, which helps explain his combativeness. But an immense body of recent research mostly confirms his approach. He ranks among the great scholars of colonialism, albeit through writing rather than training historians a la Bailyn. To gauge his influence, compare A. Vaughan's early "New England Frontier" with his later work. Thanks for fighting the good fight, Fritz.