The Francis Parkman Reader [Paperback]

Samuel Eliot Morison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 22, 1998

Francis Parkman (1823–1893), struggling against painful chronic illnesses and very largely self-taught in his field, was not only a pioneering historian but an enduring one. His monumental seven-volume history of discovery, conquest, and empire-building in the New World, France and England in North America (the final volume, Montcalm and Wolfe, is available in its entirety from Da Capo Press/ Perseus Books Group), remains unrivaled for its power, depth, scope, accuracy, and literary artistry. This reader, superbly edited by Samuel Eliot Morison, the Pulitzer Prize–winning historian in the Parkman tradition, comprises approximately one-seventh of the original. Rather than stitch together a patchwork of brief, disconnected extracts, Morison has chosen whole chapters or groups of chapters, thereby allowing the reader to follow a story from start to finish, and what stories they are: Champlain's efforts to establish a French empire in the vast forest wilderness; the torture and martyrdom of Father Jogues; La Salle's western expeditions and his murder by mutineers; the bloody Deerfield Massacre; the improbable, madcap, and successful siege of Louisbourg; the swift, dramatic battle on Quebec's Plains of Abraham, in which the fate of a continent was decided; and much more. The result is both an enthralling portrait of early North American colonial history and an unsurpassed introduction to the works of Francis Parkman.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This 1955 volume combines a selection of Parkman's assorted historical writings, including his portraits of Native tribes in the United States and Canada and many of the figures that played key roles in their histories.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Samuel Eliot Morison, editor for this edition, was a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian in the Parkman tradition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 552 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (March 22, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306808234
• ISBN-13: 978-0306808234
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #623,341 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An inspiring monument to an inspirational historian, June 29, 2008

By 

Mark S. Hewitt (Washingon, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Francis Parkman Reader (Paperback)

For those of us who have known, admired, and loved the historical writings of Samuel Eliot Morison, this book is a special gift. Morison, an inspirational historian of exploration and naval warfare, provides us a very personal introduction to his own teacher and inspiration, Francis Parkman.

Parkman, born in Boston on September 16, 1823, was the fortunate son of a famous New England family that had arrived in the New World with the first wave of Puritan settlements. They managed their rise through trade and the church. Known to his friends as Frank, Parkman spent his summers in the woods near Medford exploring, studying, and conjuring.

Here he developed a lifelong affection for the outdoors and a pragmatic appreciation of the influence of geography on human affairs. He spent the summer of his freshmen year at Harvard College wandering the woods, reading and dreaming of Indians and the native civilizations that thrived and warred in the twilight before Europeans transformed North America.

When he graduated with his class in 1844 he had developed a reputation as a vigorous outdoorsman. He studied by candlelight in the early hours to make the most of daylight outdoors. He was a crack shot with a rifle and his endurance in cross-country excursions was legendary. He learned to live off trout and moose meat and once spend three days shivering in a constant rain after his hand-made bark canoe disintegrated in the rapids of the Magalloway river.

Late in his college career he developed a crippling neurological malady. He began to suffer terrible headaches, insomnia, and semi-blindness which he personified as "the Enemy." The Enemy would dog him for the remainder of his life. The headaches and blindness would make light unbearable and loud noise excruciating. The illness frequently created an enervating condition which, for others, would have made reading and writing impossible.

But Parkman overcame. He arranged that his historical research would be collected and read to him aloud. Like Churchill, he processed this material, composed his prose in his head, and often wrote through an amanuesis. When no help was available, he composed in the dark using a writing board equipped with a horizontal rule that enabled him to produce legible longhand. Parkman's love of the outdoors and his personal philosophy of history demanded that he visit every scene of interest. Despite his illness, Parkman personally walked each inch of the terrain that figured in his texts.

In his adult life, Parkman was not only an eminent and influential historian; his métier also encompassed horticulture. In an era when horticulture was respected as an arm of the natural sciences, he distinguished himself through the collection and cultivation of thousands of varieties of roses: he won prizes and wrote books on this subject as well. It was this gardening life that often brought him great comfort from his physical ailment.

Rather than settle into a respectable life's work, one involving, say, the study of ancient or continental history, Parkman chose to examine the conflict between England and France in the New World. Worse still, he was interested in Indians, their role in these wars, and the results on Indian civilization. Even worse, he loved forests, mountains, valleys, and sounds.

Fortunately for us, the results were spectacular. Over the course of a productive life (Parkman died in 1893 after a bout of pleurisy and phlebitis) and despite constant battle with his Enemy, Parkman produced a series of monumental histories.

Among other works, his masterpiece, France and England in North America, is surely among the most impressive of works by any American historian. Its magnitude alone - six books, most of which are multiple volumes - is simply the most thorough history available of early North America. However, it is Parkman's sensitivity, attention to detail, and critical faculties that make this work a history in the finest tradition of Herodotus. Moreover, Parkman's talents as a writer are formidable. His prose is vivid and (hundreds of years later) fresh and lively.

All of Parkman's works are out of print: most are unavailable to non-collectors. For those interested in Parkman's research and ideas, Morison's volume is therefore essential. Morison excerpts content from France and England in North America for our benefit and pleasure. And Morison makes a splendid cicerone. A master of the historian's trade, he understands the burdens of the research and writing, which Parkman bore under the most challenging of conditions. Morison's affection and awe at Parkman's work are apparent in his introduction, commentaries, and selections. Consequently, this volume is both a delight to read and a touching monument to a beloved teacher.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy for your teens, read all you can, May 22, 2007

By 

peter fairley (ex-pat in Philippines) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Francis Parkman Reader (Paperback)

All Parkman's books are so good you never want them to end. The strange people and happenings have entertainment value that rivals Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' but is all well documented history.