Overview

The Seven Years' War (1754–1763) was a pivotal event in the history of the Atlantic world. Perspectives on the significance of the war and its aftermath varied considerably from different cultural vantage points. Northern and western Indians, European imperial authorities, and their colonial counterparts understood and experienced the war (known in the United States as the French and Indian War) in various ways. In many instances the progress of the conflict was charted by cultural differences and the implications participants drew from cultural encounters. It is these cultural encounters, their meaning in the context of the Seven Years' War, and their impact on the war and its diplomatic settlement that are the subjects of this volume. Cultures in Conflict: The Seven Years' War in North America addresses the broad pattern of events that framed this conflict's causes, the intercultural dynamics of its conduct, and its profound impact on subsequent events—most notably the American Revolution and a protracted Anglo-Indian struggle for continental control. Warren R. Hofstra has gathered the best of contemporary scholarship on the war and its social and cultural history. The authors examine the viewpoints of British and French imperial authorities, the issues motivating Indian nations in the Ohio Valley, the matter of why and how French colonists fought, the diplomatic and social world of Iroquois Indians, and the responses of British colonists to the conflict. The result of these efforts is a dynamic historical approach in which cultural context provides a rationale for the well-established military and political narrative of the Seven Years' War. These synthetic and interpretive essays mark out new territory in our understanding of the Seven Years' War as we recognize its 250th anniversary.

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9780742551305

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Reviews

This book offers an up-to-date and relevant look at the war from a variety of viewpoints, including Canadians, Native tribes, Europeans, and American Colonist. In the process, these essays paint a vivid portrait of not only the causes and execution of war, but also its long term impact on American History, native cultures, the ongoing hostilities between native peoples and Anglo colonists... A compelling book, and essential reading for anyone with an interest in any aspect of the war. History In Review The essays in the volume stand as a testament to the editor and contributors. Virginia Magazine Jonathan Dull's chapter on France in this era is perhaps the best overview of the French role in the war to be found. The Historian Cultures in Conflict is an exceptional collection of essays from a diverse group of scholars. Readers will find a historiographic overview and the most recent archival research on the Seven Years' War in North America. This book raises an intriguing set of questions about early America and offers refreshing new perspectives. Particular emphasis is placed on the pivotal role played by native communities, and on the way the conflict forced native peoples to create new political and economic identities to survive its devastation. -- Jane T. Merritt, Old Dominion University, author of At the Crossroads

This book offers an up-to-date and relevant look at the war from a variety of viewpoints, including Canadians, Native tribes, Europeans, and American Colonist. In the process, these essays paint a vivid portrait of not only the causes and execution of war, but also its long term impact on American History, native cultures, the ongoing hostilities between native peoples and Anglo colonists... A compelling book, and essential reading for anyone with an interest in any aspect of the war. History In Review The essays in the volume stand as a testament to the editor and contributors. Virginia Magazine Jonathan Dull's chapter on France in this era is perhaps the best overview of the French role in the war to be found. The Historian Cultures in Conflict is an exceptional collection of essays from a diverse group of scholars. Readers will find a historiographic overview and the most recent archival research on the Seven Years' War in North America. This book raises an intriguing set of questions about early America and offers refreshing new perspectives. Particular emphasis is placed on the pivotal role played by native communities, and on the way the conflict forced native peoples to create new political and economic identities to survive its devastation. -- Merritt, Jane T.

Cultures in Conflict is an exceptional collection of essays from a diverse group of scholars. Readers will find a historiographic overview and the most recent archival research on the Seven Years' War in North America. This book raises an intriguing set of questions about early America and offers refreshing new perspectives. Particular emphasis is placed on the pivotal role played by native communities, and on the way the conflict forced native peoples to create new political and economic identities to survive its devastation.--Jane T. Merritt

Author Information

Warren R. Hofstra is Stewart Bell Professor of American History at Shenandoah University. Of his numerous publications, he is the author of The Planting of New Virginia: Shenandoah Valley Landscapes, 1700–1800 and the coeditor of George Washington and the Virginia Back Country.

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