Fred Anderson - Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766

Pros: Well written; imbued with first-rate scholarship.

Cons: None

The Bottom Line: Superbly written narrative history of the Seven Years' War.

Review: Crucible of War is a magnificent book... a fascinating, sumptuously written, richly textured, and scholarly narrative history of the Seven Years’ War. (Fought from 1754-1763, this conflict is more commonly known to Americans as the French and...

Pros: Utterly brilliant: Ambrosian, Keegan-like, Tuchmanesque. Out-Parkmans Parkman. Can we rename that the Anderson Prize?

Cons: Only con is, I didn't write it. Damn....

The Bottom Line: Keegan likes it, Charles Royster likes it, the Parkman Committee ought love it, I like it. 'Nuff said? Okay: it's learned, witty, wise, solid, and gripping – that do you?

Review: Contingency governs events. Inevitability is factitious. And character is destiny. Those three propositions inform Fred Anderson's recent history of what Americans call (when they think of it all) 'the French and Indian War.' It is new, it is...