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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Don't waste your time, March 28, 2005
I just finished reading "A Few Acres of Snow" by Robert Leckie and thought I'd tell you about it, and save you all the trouble.
It purports to be a history of the French and Indian Wars. The first 30 pages are about Colombus, the next ten cover the next 100 years, and after that things get scattered and incoherent.
He repeats all the bad information you've ever heard, like the British not aiming their muskets, that the only physical requirement to join the army is having front teeth to tear open a cartridge, and that the only sensible way of fighting is taking pot-shots from behind stone walls.
He goes into some (incorrect) detail about how muskets work, and defines "rifle" and "cannon" but not "bateaux" and "pike." Claims that once infantry were invented (by Fredrick the Great, if I'm remembering correctly), siege warfare became superfluous, even though it was sometimes still done as show. Thinks the siege en forme is some weird kind of game.
Mixes time periods (from 1492 to present) rather indiscriminately, so it is sometimes difficult to tell if he's talking about ships powered by sail or by nuclear, or about assaults that took place on the Plains of Abraham or in Vietnam.
Even works in a few rude remarks on George Washington (greedy and power-hungry from a young age). But never tells the story of the "few acres of snow" quote.
The bibliography includes 2 books by himself, but no primary references. The oldest works he cites are Parkman's.
My advice: Don't waste your time. If you want to know about the French and Indian Wars, read Fred Anderson's Crucible of War or any of Francis Parkman's 12 volumes.
-Reb Manthey
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Historical travesty, if there is actually any history involved..., August 16, 2005
This review is from: "A Few Acres of Snow": The Saga of the French and Indian Wars (Paperback)
There are very few well written, detail oriented books that cover the French colonization in North America or the French Indian War, and this is not one of them. Before I read this book I read Fred Anderson's The Crucible of War and that makes the flaws in this book even more painfully obvious. The first 40 pages of this book are dedicated to Christopher Colombus even though it purports to be a history of the French English wars. I understand that this is a survey but I think it can be safely assumed that most people already understand the ramifications of Christopher Colombus' discovery. Unfortunately, the section on Christopher Columbus is actually better than the rest of the book. There is no underlying organization here, chronological or otherwise. Leckie writes a chapter on Frontenac and then writes a chapter on Louish XIV and William of Orange. Obviously the politics in Europe affected and triggered the wars in North America but Leckie never actually connects this simple fact to any evidence. Speaking of evidence, a quick look at the bibliography showed me that Leckie didn't use any primary sources. There are no letters between French governors and the King, or their families, or friends. There are no letters or memoirs from the Jesuits or the average Canadian farmer or fur trapper. There are no statistics. For instance, how many furs were harvested each year? How much money did they bring? What was the daily life of a Canadian like? These are all questions of interest with no answers. On top of that, Leckie actually repeats whole paragraphs. Apparently the editor gave a red light to this book without actually reading it. The last thing about this book, which many people have pointed out, is that Leckie brings his personal, bigoted opinions into this work and makes wide transgressions from the subject he is describing. On one page he is talking about the Iroqois, and he relates them to Adolf Hitler and concentration camps, what? This book is so sloppy and poorly written I went back and looked at the reviews for his other books and was schocked to see so many 4 and 5 stars. What happened?
Lastly, I wish someone would write a good book about French colonization in North America with detail. I want Ira Berlin details. If you have read Many Thousands Gone, you know what I am talking about. I want maps, pictures, graphs, charts, statistics, and above all flawless writing. I am still waiting...
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting observations but appalling editing, July 16, 1999
By A Customer
I find the conclusions Leckie draws from his research to be very interesting, sometimes very insightful, but I'm constantly balancing that against how he seems to draw a lot from little evidence. The writing is generally very good, but when it (or the editing is) bad, it's REALLY bad. Aside from the duplication mentioned above, Leckie also gets away with absurdities such as "the sole and only credential". Also, he presents a discussion about someone's viewpoint, which I have read two dozen times and STILL cannot understand (and I don't think I'm the problem). I'm not sure slogging through the messes is worth it to get the interesting details.
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