Ugly, gangling, and tormented by agonising illness, Major General James Wolfe was an unlikely hero. Yet in 1759, on the Plains of Abraham before Quebec, he won a battle with momentous consequences. Wolfe's victory, bought at the cost of his life, ensured that English, not French, would become the dominant language in North America. Ironically, by crippling French ambitions on that continent, Wolfe paved the way for American independence from Britain. Just thirty-two years old when he was killed in action, Wolfe had served in the British army since his mid-teens, fighting against the French in Flanders and Germany, and the Jacobites in Scotland. Already renowned for bold leadership, Wolfe's death at the very moment of his victory at Quebec cemented his heroic status on both sides of the Atlantic. Epic paintings of Wolfe's dying moments transformed him into an icon of patriotic self-sacrifice, and a role model for Horatio Nelson. Once venerated as the very embodiment of military genius and soldierly modesty, Wolfe's reputation has recently undergone sustained assault by revisionist historians who instead see him as a bloodthirsty and priggish young man, a general who owned his name and fame to one singularly lucky - though crucial - victory. But was there more to James Wolfe than a celebrated death? In Paths of Glory, the first full-length biography of Wolfe to appear in almost half a century, Stephen Brumwell seeks to answer that question, drawing upon extensive research to offer a reassessment of a soldier whose short but dramatic life unquestionably altered the course of world history.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1909 edition. Excerpt: ... XII WAITING FOR WAR The orders impatiently expected by the Twentieth and its Lieutenant-Colonel never came. For them there was to be no fighting just yet, but instead they were notified that they must shift quarters from Exeter to Winchester. Thither on March 25 arrived Wolfe and his men, the regiment still without a colonel, the appointment not yet having been gazetted. Such of his friends as had access to the King and Commander-in-Chief urged the justice of appointing Lieutenant-Colonel Wolfe to the vacant post, but the King seems to have thought him, as ever, "too young." If only war were declared Wolfe felt confident he could make his way. To His Mother. Winchester, 26 March, 1755. Dear Madam, --Upon my arrival here yesterday I found your letter and I found a very unsatisfactory account of your health in it. The weather has been so uncommonly sharp, that I feared it would affect you, and you have the misfortune to feel all the changes and rudeness of climate that this country is subject to. I can recommend nothing to you, but the same course that you have hitherto pursued; to be good and religious is the only means of quieting the mind under great afflictions, we have no other comfort here below, nor anything else worth our regard. A little more stirring in fair weather, and in a light machine, if you had one, might help you; but the house and a great chair, is death or a life of misery. We are impatient to know whether peace or war is resolved on. If the latter, as we suppose, the troops will probably encamp very soon, to be ready for all purposes. In either case I must go to London for a few days to settle my affairs, and then I shall have the pleasure of being with you. The Marines you speak of, if they do raise any, will be put...

The Industrial Revolution has had the most far-reaching and transformative effects of any era in the planet's history. After detailing life and technology in Europe prior to the revolution, this volume presents the changes that led to the revolution, important inventions and innovations, societal and economic consequences, and the Second Industrial Revolution in the United States. Readers will learn how inventions we take for granted today, such as the telephone, steam engine, and railroad, transformed our world and started us on the path to globalization.