Montcalm and Wolfe is Francis Parkman's detailed account of the French and Indian War framed through portraits of its two opposing generals. The French and Indian War, which was the North American chapter of the Seven Years' War between the French and the British, pitted the commander of the French troops, Louis-Joseph de Montcalm-Gozon, Marquis de Saint-Veran, against the commander of the British forces, British Brigadier General James Wolfe. A captivating...

"For two thousand years, Sun-tzu's The Art of Warfare was the indispensable volume of warcraft. Although his work is the first known analysis of war and warfare, Sun-tzu struck upon a thoroughly modern concept: "The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting." Karl von Clausewitz, the canny military theorist who famously declared that war is a continuation of politics by other means, also claims paternity of the notion "total war."...