Northern Armageddon

The Battle of the Plains of Abraham and the Making of the American Revolution

By: D. Peter MacLeod

Narrated by: Tom Perkins

Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

The Battle of the Plains of Abraham is one of the pivotal events in North American and global history. This clash between British general James Wolfe and French general Louis-Joseph de Montcalm on September 13, 1759, led to the British victory in the Seven Years' War in North America, which in turn led to the creation of Canada and the United States as we know them today.

Rooted in original research, featuring quotations that have never appeared before, Northern Armageddon immerses the listener in the campaign, battle, and siege through the eyes of dozens of participants, such as British sailor William Hunter, four Quebec residents enduring the bombing of their city, and a teenage Huron warrior. Shifting from perspective to perspective, we move from the bombardment of Quebec to the field of combat, where Montcalm and Wolfe gave their orders but thousands of individual soldiers determined the outcome of the battle. In the final chapters, MacLeod traces the battle's impact on Canada, the United States, both countries' aboriginals, and the world, from 1759 into the 21st century.

©2016 D. Peter MacLeod . Recorded by arrangement with Knopf, an imprint of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. (P)2016 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"MacLeod, a pre-Confederation historian at the Canadian War Museum, has written what is surely the definitive account of the battle.... Those who like to dress up as soldiers and re-enact the battle will discover the compass points of every strategic position and exactly how many cartridges to carry.... This kind of details is clearly of great interest to some readers, but MacLeod does not neglect the distinctly unstrategic and often mundane details that make or break a war, such as the cartloads of pork and beans, driven by women and children, that saved Canada time and again." ( Canadian Geographic)

"Rooted in original research, featuring quotations and images that have never appeared before, Northern Armageddon immerses the reader in the campaign, battle and siege through the eyes of dozens of participants." ( History Society)

"MacLeod is the pre-Confederation historian at the Canadian War Museum and his splendidly written and researched book makes clear that the battle was a close-run struggle." ( Legion Magazine)

The Origins of Canada

The battle at the plains of Abraham outside of Quebec led to a bilingual Canada independant of the United States. The details of the battle and its historic significance are well described.

Balanced.

So refreshing to read/listen to history that is fair to both sides. Quotes primary sources.