"[ Queen Anne's War ] is valuable for its insights into the military thinking of the day and some of the benefits of superb planning of wilderness campaigns. It also illustrates nicely the extreme difficulties facing colonial administrators and military leaders on the uncharted frontiers of North America. It is a book worthy of the shelves of anyone interested in colonial warfare or fascinated by the complex international relationships caused by dynastic intermarriages and alliances. The final bonus is this is a good read done with style and clarity." --Journal of America's Military Past "Thanks to temporal proximity to The American Revolution and the literary works of James Fenimore Cooper and Francis Parkman, the French and Indian War (Seven Years War in Europe) is the most famous of the Anglo-French conflicts over the North American colonies. However, it was the fourth and culminating conflict, so Laramie reveals in presenting the relatively unknown yet pivotal earlier struggles. Laramie's contention is that both King William's War, 1689-1697, and Queen Ann's War, 1702-1713, known respectively in Europe as The War of the League of Augsburg and The War of the Spanish Succession, along with King George's War, set the stage for more than a half century of conflict and generational hostility from the frontiers of Maine to the Gulf Coast. Laramie recounts waves of frontier raids waged by both French and English combined with Native American allies, ravaging settlements from Maine to Florida.

Such chronic carnage was supplemented by destructive but usually indecisive descents upon coastal cities, with English attacks ranging from Port Royal in Acadia (Nova Scotia) to St. Augustine in Spanish Florida and French assaults on St. John's, Newfoundland, or Charleston, South Carolina. Logistical challenges and endemic disease afflicted both sides, as well as bad luck, such as the storm that devastated the English-Colonial fleet that might have taken Montreal in 1711. However, over time the English naval blockade as well as battlefield success in Europe ensured an English (after 1707 Act of Union), British victory, clearing the French out of both Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, although the remnants of French Canada survived along the St. Lawrence River. Queen Anne's War is well written and ably supported by the excellent use of English, French, and Spanish sources, while not ignoring the Native American point of view. This highly recommended book should now be considered the standard history.

"-- William John Shepherd, University Archivist and Head of Special Collections, The Catholic University of America.