The War That Made America

A Short History of the French and Indian War

De: Fred Anderson

Narrado por: Simon Vance

Apart from The Last of the Mohicans, most Americans know little of the French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Years' War, and yet it remains one of the most fascinating periods in our history. In January 2006, PBS will air The War That Made America, a four-part documentary about this epic conflict. Fred Anderson, the award-winning and critically acclaimed historian, has written the official tie-in to this exciting television event.

In The War That Made America, Anderson deftly shows how the expansion of the British colonies into French territory in the 1750s and the ongoing Native American struggle for survival would erupt into seven years of bloodshed and unrest spreading from the backwoods of Pennsylvania to the high courts of Europe, eventually overturning the balance of power on two continents and laying the groundwork for the American Revolution. Beautifully illustrated, richly detailed, and utterly compelling, this is the story of how America as we know it today emerged from a series of fractured colonies and warring tribes into a nation ripe for independence, and nobody tells this story better than Fred Anderson.

Listen to more Books That Changed the World.©2005 The War That Made America, LLC (P)2005 Tantor Media, Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Like the best popular historians, Anderson combines exhaustive research and an accessible prose style in a volume that should help rescue the French and Indian War from historical obscurity." (Publishers Weekly)

It is all coming together!!!

What an amazing book! I learned so much not just about the war itself, but they did a remarkable job of really making sense of how this conflict set in motion the conditions that led to the revolutionary war and the ‘manifest destiny.’

An interesting history lesson

A quick moving telling and detailed account of a war that was very important, but overshadowed in our history classes by the revolutionary war. The author presents the many aspects and players of this conflict interesting details including the personalities and battle details that it held my attention well. The author to me seemed an amazing master of the subject!

Nicely done history

If you could sum up The War That Made America in three words, what would they be?

interesting, fast paces

Who was your favorite character and why?

Washington

What about Simon Vance’s performance did you like?

Excellent

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Sympathy for native americans

Any additional comments?

Brought to life the history of the French and Indian War. Most interesting to me was the positioning of the Native Americans, French, and British. Also interesting was the lack of knowledge of both the French and British commanders. I highly recommend the book.

Nice and Quick

I read his other book on the subject, but this one is a very nice refresher and condensed very well if you dont want to commit to a long read.

Great narration, good macro view of events

It covered a lot of material in a relatively short amount of time. It is a good overview of many of the events and the military and diplomatic forces at play during a pivotal time in the history of North America.

I also listened to the Dune (Herbert) audiobook years ago and having the same narrator for this one lent it a more nuanced performance that one usually gets with historical audiobooks.

Excellent narration.

Wonderful historical account and narration.
I listened to prior to a visit to Quebec City and highly recommend for anyone visiting Quebec.

Great Introduction!

Anderson’s abbreviated look at this historical development is a worthy read. If you want depth then go straight to his Crucible of War. But for an intro, this suffices. The accompanying PBS documentary is worth watching also.

History Trumps Fiction

If you could sum up The War That Made America in three words, what would they be?

This book masterfully tied up some loose ends in my knowledge of pre-revolutionary North American History

What other book might you compare The War That Made America to and why?

It was written in the woven style of Chernow in Washington: A Life. George was a key figure in the French and Indian war,also.

Have you listened to any of Simon Vance’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Simon Vance should be cloned. He is an excellent narrator who moves to French with ease and whose cadence is perfect.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Blood and Gore for a Winning Score

Any additional comments?

I appreciate the intrigues of the Iroquois League much better. What better way for Quakers to fight than to have Indians do it for them!!

Gives so much depth and context to a war usually treated in a paragraph

Unless you are quite the history buff, you probably have a vague recollection that the French and Indian war had something to do with the US war for independence, and that it wasn’t actually fought between the French and the Indians. The War that Made America fills out the conflict with all the details we never learned in school—like that there were multiple tribes involved in the conflict, some pro-English, some pro-French, and all sophisticated, powerful strategic actors in their own right. Frankly, just hearing the names of different tribes rather than just “the Indians” was worth the price of admission, if you ask me. Anderson also weaves in the geopolitics of the Seven Years war in Europe and beyond to give context and depth to what can seem to be a fairly simple, straightforward event. He takes it even further with a really insightful and compelling analysis of how the war shaped the future—of George Washington, the American conflict with the British, the American relationship with native tribes, and the whole British Empire. Despite the scope and breadth of his analysis, he has written an accessible and fascinating account that fills in the gaps usually missing in the history of colonial America.

Presents a much more complex picture than I understood before hearing this book.

Well read
Well written. Made the history accessible on a probably the deep truth behind the American Revolution