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| Stephen Brumwell's Homepage |
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Forthcoming
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Steve’s current writing projects include a biography of George Washington, for Quercus, as part of their ambitious new ‘Great Lives’ series. Pitched at a general readership, but maintaining high standards of scholarship, this book will provide an opportunity to view the ‘father of his country’ from a British perspective. Forthcoming in the September 2009 issue of History Today is an article to tie-in with the 250th anniversary of the capture of Quebec; this focuses upon the part played by Wolfe’s army in securing that momentous victory, and the young general’s own role in shaping it as a versatile and effective fighting machine. It also analyses the Quebec army’s heterogeneous manpower. Due to emerge within the next year is a chapter exploring ‘The Scottish Military Experience in North America, 1756-1783’, part of Edinburgh University Press’ forthcoming volume, ‘A Military History of Scotland’. Edited by three respected scholars, Matthew Strickland, Edward Spiers and Jeremy Crang, this substantial illustrated work includes contributions covering Scotland’s unusually rich martial heritage, ranging from pre-history to the Falkland's War.
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As an on-screen commentator, Steve has contributed to two major drama documentaries emerging this summer. Both deal with aspects of the French and Indian War in North America. PBS Mountain Lake’s film ‘Forgotten War’ explores the conflict fought in the often-neglected upstate New York theatre. Besides providing interview footage, Steve has also written an essay, examining the troubled strategy behind the 1759 Quebec campaign, exclusively for the educational website that will accompany the PBS film. In addition, the 250th anniversary of the events at Quebec will see the broadcast of what promises to be an exceptionally lavish and thought-provoking docu-drama from award-winning Galafilm of Montreal, in conjunction with Gedeon programmes (France). Directed by Brian McKenna, ‘Quebec 1759: Battle for a Continent’ uses live reconstruction, special effects and CGI to explore this ‘D-Day of the 18th Century’. It is due to be broadcast in September, initially with the History Network (Canada) and ARTE (France and Germany).
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This year’s Quebec anniversary also dominates Steve’s forthcoming speaking engagements. On 10 September he’ll be giving a lunchtime lecture at the National Army Museum, Chelsea, entitled ‘“A Chosen Body of Troops”: Wolfe’s Army at Quebec’. The hour-long illustrated talk (which includes 15 minutes for questions), starts in the Lecture Theatre at 12.30. In Quebec City, on 15 September, Steve will be speaking at a seminar on the Seven Years’ War, organized by the National Battlefields Commission in collaboration with the Société Généalogique Canadienne-Française and the Musée de la Civilisation, to be held in the chapel of the Musée de l’Amérique Française. He’ll be talking (in English) on the war’s precursors and global consequences. Before returning to Amsterdam, Steve is stopping off in London once again to attend the conference ‘1759 Revisited: The Conquest of Canada in Historical Perspective’, organized by the University of London on 17-19 September. His paper, ‘“One more card to play”: revisiting Wolfe’s final stratagem’, addresses one of the most controversial aspects of that year’s events at Quebec - Wolfe’s ‘risky’ decision to strike at the Foulon Cove close to the city rather than opt for a ‘safer’ upriver strategy.
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