Ill-Starred General

Book excerpt: A rare combination of documented fact and good storytelling, Ill-Starred General is the biography of a much maligned man from one of history’s most vital eras. The career of Edward Braddock began during the court intrigues of Queen Anne and George I, gained momentum in continental military campaigns in the early 1750s, and ended abruptly in the rout of his American army near present-day Pittsburgh in 1755. This highly acclaimed biography reveals the man—and the politics—behind his defeat, one of the major setbacks to British imperial power in the American colonies. “Braddock was the first English general that Americans had ever seen in action, and although he lost his life fighting for them, they detested him...What [McCardell] has done is to replace a historical puppet with a credible human being, and...to explain how a carefully planned colonial expedition can go wrong.”—Naomi Bliven, The New Yorker “The breadth, depth and care of McCardell’s research on Ill-Starred General are amazing and delightful. He has labored with that fidelity which every honest historian must display and with that luck which crowns the efforts of the fortunate.”—George Swetnam, Pittsburgh Press “A first-rate biography.”—Lynn Montross, New York Times “A genial and readable interpretation that will revivify an important figure in early American history. It is the kind of well-documented book that will appeal to both the general reader and the historian.”—W. R. Jacobs, American Historical Review