| Stephen Brumwell's Homepage |
| Home |
| About Stephen Brumwell |
| Books |
| Articles and Chapters |
| Broadcast Contributions |
| Conference Presentations |
| Forthcoming |
| Books | ||||||
Quercus (London, June 2012) ‘I am a warrior.’ These were the uncompromising words that George Washington chose to describe himself in May 1779, at the height of the Revolutionary War against Britain. It’s an image very different to the one that he’s been assigned by posterity – the patriotic plantation owner who would become the dignified political leader of his country. Stephen Brumwell’s new book focuses on a side of Washington that is often overlooked: the feisty young frontier officer and the tough forty-something commander of the revolutionaries’ Continental Army, not the venerated elder statesman of the Republic. It examines Washington’s long and chequered military career, tracing his evolution as a soldier, and his changing attitude to the waging of war. A central narrative anchored upon Washington’s own experience is combined with analysis of the background influences that shaped his conduct as an officer. Ironically, it shows how Washington’s reliance upon English models of ‘gentlemanly’ behaviour, and on British military organisation, was crucial in establishing his leadership of the fledgling Continental Army, and in forging it into the weapon that won American independence. George Washington: Gentleman Warrior is a vivid recounting of the formative years and military career of ‘The Father of his Country’, following his journey from brutal border skirmishes with the French and their Indian allies to his remarkable victory over the British Empire, an achievement that underpinned his selection as the first president of the United States of America. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including original archival research, Stephen Brumwell paints a compelling and challenging portrait of an extraordinary individual whose fusion of gentleman and warrior left an indelible imprint upon history. Book order and more information from Amazon.co.uk: Hard cover / Kindle version |
||||||
Winner: 2008 Charles P. Stacey Prize Paths of Glory: The Life and Death of General James Wolfe Hambledon Continuum (London, November 2006). North American edition published by McGill-Queen's University Press (Montreal, February 2007). 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 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 owed 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, acclaimed writer and historian Stephen Brumwell seeks to answer that question, drawing upon extensive research to offer a boldly argued reassessment of a soldier whose short but dramatic life unquestionably altered the course of world history. Reviews of Paths of Glory --> Book order and more information from Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA |
||||||
Weidenfield & Nicolson (London 2004 & New York January 2005). The US edition is published by Da Capo Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2005). Paperback editions 2005 (UK), 2006 (US). Beginning with the abduction of a family of white settlers by Indian raiders, this gripping true story lays bare the brutal conflict that inspired The Last of the Mohicans. The infamous massacre of the garrison of Fort William Henry by the French army’s Indian allies accelerated a cycle of revenge that would end in Robert Rogers’ bloody raid on the Abenaki village of St. Francis, and a harrowing retreat through the frozen wilderness of North America. Robert Rogers created what was arguably the worlds first ‘special forces’ unit and it remains the inspiration for the US Army Rangers of today. He was a complex character, a fearsome fighter feted in the salons of London and New York. The newspapers hailed him as a hero, but the Abenakis would soon have a new name for him: ‘White Devil’. Susanna Johnson was a typical frontierswoman, living on a farmstead with her family in the 1750s until she was abducted by an Abenaki war party, together with her husband and children. Her account of their ordeal vividly describes the lifestyle of the Abenakis at this critical time in their history. The interwoven stories of Robert Rogers, the Johnson family and the Indian wars make White Devil as riveting an adventure story as the novels and films these events inspired. It reveals the remarkable true story of Rogers and his Rangers: an epic of revenge and survival in the North American wilderness. Reviews of White Devil Book order and more information from Amazon US / Amazon UK |
||||||
Cambridge University Press (Cambridge & New York, 2002, Paperback edition 2005). Recent scholarship has highlighted the significance of the Seven Year’s War for the destiny of Britain’s Atlantic Empire. This major study offers an important new perspective through a vivid and scholarly account of the regular troops at the sharp end of that conflict’s bloody and decisive American campaigns. Fresh sources are employed to challenge enduring stereotypes regarding both the social composition and military prowess of the ‘redcoats’. The book shows how the humble soldiers who fought from Nova Scotia to Cuba developed a powerful esprit de corps that equipped them to defy savage discipline in defence of their ‘rights’. It traces the evolution of Britain’s ‘American Army’ from a feeble, conservative and discredited organisation into a tough, flexible and innovative force whose victories ultimately won the respect of colonial Americans. By providing a voice for these neglected shock-troops of Empire, Redcoats adds flesh and blood to Georgian Britain’s ‘sinews of power’. Reviews of Redcoats Book order and more information from Amazon US / Amazon UK |
||||||
(as co-author with Emeritus Professor W. A. Speck) Cassell & Co (London, 2001) The ‘long’ eighteenth century from 1688 to 1815 was a critical period in British history. Domestically, it witnessed the beginnings of constitutional monarchy in the ‘Glorious Revolution’, the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain in the Act of Union of 1707, and a growth in political stability that underpinned Britain’s emergence as a great power possessing the world’s most advanced economy. Abroad, Britain fought wars for colonial and maritime supremacy, achieving domination in India and North America – but was forced to cede independence to those colonies that became the USA. The end of the period saw Britain embroiled in two decades of warfare in which she formed and subsidised coalitions against the might of revolutionary and Napoleonic France. Cassell’s Companion to Eighteenth Century Britain provides a considered overview of these hugely significant political, diplomatic and military events, together with an in depth coverage of the economic, social and cultural factors that shaped this era of British history. As well as offering a plethora of brief factual entries delivering essential quick reference information, the volume also includes numerous essay length thematic articles, treating important aspects of the period. Comprehensive, analytical and informed by the latest scholarship, the Companion is the ideal reference for college students and academics, and a clear and accessible guide to eighteenth century Britain for all those with an interest in any aspect of the period. Book order and more information from Amazon US / Amazon UK |
||||||
(author of introduction) Purple Mountain Press (Fleischmanns, New York 2004) Scottish soldier Robert Kirk (real name Kirkwood) survived a decade of active service in North America between 1757 and 1767, and later wrote a fascinating account of his experiences of Indian captivity and bloody frontier warfare. His book is exceptionally rare, with the only known copy held by the British Library in London. This new edition, which is edited by two North American experts on the period, Timothy J. Todish and Lt-Col Ian McCulloch, presents the full text of Kirk’s original book, with detailed annotations. Stephen Brumwell, who rediscovered Kirk’s book whilst researching Redcoats, contributes a scholarly introduction that outlines the author’s extraordinary life, and analyses the historical and literary significance of his Memoirs. The many illustrations include work by the renowned eastern frontier artist Robert Griffing, who also painted the specially commissioned cover image. Book order and more information from Amazon US |
||||||
|
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (see under Articles) |
||||||
| back to the top |
