Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

There have been a number of brilliant books written on the subject of what should have been known in history as the true First World War, or as we know it, the French & Indian War or Seven Years War. THE FRENCH & INDIAN WAR: DECIDING THE FATE OF NORTH AMERICA, by Walter Borneman may never reach the apex of that list, but it is indeed a fine work worthy of being in a class with Francis Parkman or Fred Anderson. Borneman brings a fresh writing style to the old subject that is a true joy to read.

The book does have a few slight knocks against it. I thought the introduction leading up to the war should have been more deeply explored than the brief narrative of the first two chapters. The circumstances pushing towards the world war could have easily taken several hundred pages by itself, but Borneman, in this work, seeks a rather brief 300 page account of the war and, given that limitation, does an incredible job.

The Third Chapter introduces the reader to Ben Franklin and his Albany Plan in as good a dissertation as I have read on the subject. The book contains sparse maps, but what is there is worthy of high praise as well as giving good explanation of troop movements, detail, dates and conditions on conflicts such as Braddock's defeat and Ticonderoga. Mid way through the book you will find eight pages of magnificent pencil drawings, several I don't recall ever seeing before.

Borneman concludes his work with twenty five pages of notes and a brief bibliography. Brevity is, at once, a slight for this book, but it also accomplishes what I believe to have been Borneman's intention; to present a comprehensive study of the French and Indian War in a compact reader. To that end, Borneman succeeds in magnificent fashion. Overall, I was very pleased with this book.

Monty Rainey

Junto Society

The French and Indian War names the two losers in this war. From this war the victorious kingdom of Great Britain became the British Empire. We usually think of Braddock's march towards Fort Duquesne and Wolfe attacking Montcalm at Quebec during this war. However, there is also John Bradstreet's attack on Fort Frontenac on the shores of Lake Ontario, the battles in the Lake George and Lake Champlain area of New York state, the battles for Fort Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada, along with numerous other conflicts that made up what was known as the Seven Years War in Europe which really lasted nine years. One definite strength of this book is the many maps which were placed in the appropriate chapters to illustrate exactly where the events took place. The lack of such maps in other books I've read on various subjects has been frustrating. The real losers in this war, of course, were the Native Americans. Regardless of which side won the war they would lose their land. England's victory in this war lit the spark for the American Revolution to follow, and it was the defeated France that assisted America to defeat England in America's revolution. Former Harvard historian Samuel Eliot Morison called the French and Indian War the first World War. It was, indeed, global in nature. The fate of William Pitt, Jeffery Amherst, Robert Rogers, Chief Pontiac, and other key participants is also covered. The book is 308 pages long, and there are a lot of names to keep track of. My knowledge of this war and its importance to future events in America were definitely increased with this reading. Stick with it to the end. It is worth it.

If you google Walter R. Borneman, you will find not just a writer of history books, but a lawyer managing a substantial trust benefiting medical research, and also a mountaineer who has climbed all of Colorado's fourteeners and co-authored books on the subject. I cannot help but think that this background contributes to both the efficiency and the meticulous attention to detail and accuracy found in his recent books ("1812" and "French and Indian War"). This is not to say that his writing is not pleasing; it flows rationally and provides eminently pleasurable reading.

As work limits my pleasure reading, I am quite selective in choosing my material. In less than 400 pages Borneman has provided a complete, yet readable account of the global conflict referred to as the "French and Indian" war. I find most history books deficient in illustrations and maps, and I would like to have seen a few more here, but I managed by book marking the maps as to return to them easily as I read.

If you need a long tome to fill idle hours, they are out there. However, if you need a pleasurable, informative narrative history of the French and Indian war that is complete but can be finished in a reasonable interval, you should read this book.

Borneman has bracketed the American Revolution with his last two books. It would be kind of him to fill this gap someday.

Walter Borneman's coverage of the French and Indian war tells the tale of one of the first global conflicts extremely well. Best of all, he sets the context that created the war and defines the context that the war created which lead to the American Revolution. He does a credible job describing the battles and personalities that defined the conflict. He gets at the heart of the economic as well as personal causes for the war. He writes clearly and enjoyably, making the book easy to read as well as informative. The maps in the book, specifically the ones outlining battles, are poor especially when one considers the overall quality of the rest of the work. That minor weakness aside, this is a great book, informative on the topic and well worth reading.

To be sure, this is not a scholarly work. It was not written by a professional historian. It is a pleasurable read for those who would like to gain greater understanding of this war's overall importance in the development of the United States.

There are plenty of dry, technical tomes, that for the most part are barely readable, but thoroughly balanced and accurate. Unread books won't educate anyone.

While it is "uneven" in it's treatment of events, the casual reader will gain a good understanding of how this war affected the future of the New World.

Often a book on such a subject as the French and Indian War can be interesting; but dry. I found this book interesting enough to look forward to reading it at every opportunity. The French and Indian War played a major role in the future of the French in North America and set the stage for our own Revolution. As mentioned in the book, it was also a turning point for the Native Americans East of the Mississippi. There may be books that go into more depth than this book. I found Borneman's coverage and use of maps gave me enough information and kept my interest.

While there are more "scholarly" treatments on the French and Indian War on the market, Borneman's is probably the only work on the subject the average reader will ever need to read. Detailed yet readable, this book will be a welcome addition to the library of any lay historian interested in the nuts-and-bolts of this often overlooked war and its role in the shaping of an American nation.

I would highly recommend this book for those like myself who are just barely acquainted with the history of the French and Indian War, which was formally recognized as lasting from 1756 to 1763. Battles and skirmishes had begun before this time, e.g. General Braddock's march and defeat at the hands of the French and Indian allies in 1755 near the Monongahela River, with a young George Washington also playing a part in this battle. Borneman is an excellent writer whose clear style will make this both an easy and informative read.

This is a fairly compact book that will not take long to read. In essence, Borneman shows how this war could be classified as the first truly World War. Both the French and British had claims over the North American continent (roughly with the British occupying the Atlantic coast and the areas just inland and the French occupying areas along the St. Lawrence River, the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River), and it was this close proximity between two ambitious nations that could perhaps only culminate in war. But in addition to these areas and the West Indies (also extremely important for both sides), the author takes us to Europe to show us the war occurring on the European mainland, which the government of France seemed more concerned with than with their possessions in North America.

We become acquainted with many of the political and military leaders from both the British and French sides, but also some of the leading American colonists, and the Indian leaders and tribes. We learn of the legends that developed around Roger's Rangers and General Wolfe on the British side, the leaders who would emerge in the American War for Independence some twenty years later, and the issues stirring behind the war on the European mainland. It is also worth mentioning that this war perhaps best defined the emergence of the British Empire. For a relatively short book, we learn of much more than what was occurring in the wilderness areas of Canada and the present day United States.

But this account still largely covers the battles that took place in North America, such as those along the rivers and lakes that now form part of the upper Mid-Atlantic States and western New England States, as well as the Great Lakes States and those portion of Canada that border on the St. Lawrence River, notably Quebec and Montreal. The early stages of the war saw more French success in the field, but this changed and eventually ended in Britain's victory. As Borneman also discusses towards the end, the seeds for future revolution were laid by the British in the developing thirteen colonies that hugged the Atlantic Coast. Examples of this include the numerous pieces of taxation legislation imposed by the British Parliament and the quartering of British troops in the American colonies.

As I mentioned earlier, I think this is a most appropriate book for the beginning student trying to become acquainted with this particular conflict. It will, I think anyway, successfully introduce you to the issues surrounding this war, who the players were, and how this war was significant in several ways. Overall, this is a well integrated book that I think rightfully tries to put this conflict into a more global perspective. A good read.

Borneman's French and Indian War provided me with exactly what I was looking for: a popular history of the war that maintains the momentum of its narrative without omitting crucial details. It was a good sign when in the front I found two items that are so critical to this genre: the chronology of events, and list of dramatis personae.

Borne switches his focus back and forth from the French and Indian War in North America, which he relates in detail, to the wider developments of the global conflict known elsewhere as the Seven Years War, which he relates in summary. The maps are good but not great.

My prior knowledge of this war was confined to Wolfe's campaign against Quebec and the climactic clash on the Plains of Abraham. Borneman allowed me to fill in the gaps without getting mired in scholarly minutiae. For any readers wanting to proceed to more depth after reading Borneman, the bibliography in this book would be an ideal place to get started.

Anyone already possessing a depth and breadth of knowledge of this conflict can confidently pass on Borneman--as other reviewers have noted, he presents nothing new to French and Indian War scholarship. What he does do successfully, however, is deftly weave together the best known secondary sources for as complete a story that can be told in a little more than three hundred pages, while maintaining accessibility for the general reader.

"The French and Indian War" is a good solid portrayal of that conflict between France and England which (at the time) decided the political fate of the North American continent. FIW also renders a fine study of the intra-European power struggles in an era of treaties, conflicts, shifting loyalties, jealousies and even strategic inter-marriages. A key fact is that England filled her North American colonies with her subjects; France filled North America with several strategically located military forts-impressive on paper. But when England turned her political attention here, she supplied heavy military logistical support buttressed by the World's finest navy. France did not, remaining fixated on European affairs. Once the War began, France's installations fell, not exactly like a string of dominoes, but surely and steadily none the less. FIW is rich in detail and extremely well documented. The author has done his homework! Other reviews have mentioned that there are even lengthier tomes on the French and Indian War. That surprised this reader because a minor complaint from this source is that Bormeman's work may be too lengthy! Certainly little has been omitted. This reviewer almost always finds fault with the MAPS in military tales. Here they are adequate-a triumph in itself. But they are strangely placed. Often a battle location is mentioned with no relevant map nearby. Perhaps the ultimate solution is to place all maps in together in one section. Then mapophiles (such as this reviewer) can turn pages or use bookmarks. Others can keep reading. Borneman drives home one final cardinal point: In England's triumph in this conflict were sown the seeds of her defeat in her next one. Her military campaigns cost serious $$$. That problem was addressed by "taxation without representation" for the American colonies. We know how that turned out. The final call is that this is a first rate military and political tale. This reviewer has chosen to reduce rank by one star due to those maps. Many readers may well disagree and put that 5th star right back.