Montcalm And Wolfe

Two Men Who Forever Changed the Course of Canadian History

Roch Carrier

• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781554687633
• eBook ISBN: 9781443428637

The national bestseller that tells the story of Wolfe and Montcalm and the Plains of Abraham

In September 1759, a small band of British troops led by James Wolfe scaled the tall cliff overlooking a farmer's field owned by Abraham Martin and overpowered the French garrison that protected the area, allowing the bulk of the British army to ascend the cliff behind and attack the French who, led by Louis-Joseph Montcalm, were largely unaware of Wolfe's tactics. The battle that ensued on what would become known as the Plains of Abraham would forever shape the geography and politics of Canada.

Montcalm and Wolfe, written by one of the finest writers this country has ever produced, is the epic story of this battle told through the lives of the two generals, Wolfe and Montcalm. The book is a dual biography of the men and their most famous battle written by a master storyteller. What kind of life did they have before they took up arms? What were the two men really like? And, most importantly, what forces brought the two men to face each other in a battle that forged a nation?

Table of contents

• Contents
• Prelude
• 1: A castle, a river, and so many wars
• 2: Snails and ground-up earthworms, whisked into milk with cloves
• 3: “Obedience, docility, and a wholehearted compliance”
• 4: “I am very sorry, dear Mamma, that you doubt my love”
• 5: “Bloody and memorable affairs”
• 6: The deadly encounter with a one-eyed, one-armed, one-legged hero
• 7: “No individual corps had been wanting in their duty”
• 8: So much learned, so much to learn …
• 9: Peace, family, and rural beauty
• 10: “It is not in our interest to quarrel with any but the French”
• 11: “Blast the enemy!”
• 12: “A good letter to keep … in the event of misfortune”
• 13: “Seeds of discontent”
• 14: “Who would govern the governor?”
• 15: “The direct cause of all our troubles in the colonies”
• 16: A different nation, the same enemy
• 17: “If I was to serve two or three years in America”
• 18: “A sort of general”
• 19: Victory is painful even to the victors
• 20: “Poor king …”
• 21: “The enterprise of Louisbourg will cost a multitude of men”
• 22: “I foresee by my good fortune that the campaign will turn out well”
• 23: “By the greatest of good fortune imaginable”
• 24: “To rid them of the idea that the French are weak”
• 25: “A great deal of mischief”
• 26: “Why do we need French troops?”
• 27: “A distant and disagreeable service”
• 28: “Think now only of making peace”
• 29: “Canada like a sick man …”
• 30: “You don’t try to save the stables”
• 31: “The business of next summer”
• 32: “One cannot love you any more tenderly, my heart”
• 33: “The worst soldiers in the universe”
• 34: “Against the balls, a relic”
• 35: “Such a tremendous fire, that no human head can venture to peep up under”
• 36: “Let him amuse himself where he is”
• 37: “That man must end with a great effort, a thunderbolt”
• 38: A “wary old fellow”
• 39: “I don’t think you’ll make it …”
• 40: “Each waiting for the other to fire first”
• 41: “New France descended into the tomb”
• 42: “America’s succeeding flame”
• 43: “If the king does not see fit to send us help”
• 44: Wisps of straw swept away
• About the Author
• Copyright
• About the Publisher