> Skip to content
  • Published: 1 July 2008
  • ISBN: 9780099526391
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $35.00
Categories:

1759

The Year Britain Became Master of the World




A remarkable new book on a crucial moment in British and world history.

Although 1759 is not a date as well known in British history as 1215, 1588, or 1688, there is a strong case to be made that it is the most significant year since 1066. In 1759 - the fourth year of the Seven Years War - the British defeated the French in arduous campaigns on four continents and also achieved absolute mastery of the seas.

Drawing on a mass of primary materials - from texts in the Vatican archives to oral histories of the North American Indians - Frank McLynn shows how the conflict between Brtiain and France triggered the first 'world war', raging from Europe to Africa; the Caribbean to the Pacific; the plains of the Ganges to the Great Lakes of North America. It also brought about the War of Independence, the acquisition by Britain of the Falkland Islands and, ultimately, the French Revolution.

  • Published: 1 July 2008
  • ISBN: 9780099526391
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $35.00
Categories:

About the author

Frank McLynn

Frank McLynn is a highly regarded historian, who specialises in biographies and military history. He has written over 20 books, including critically acclaimed biographies of Napoleon and Richard the Lionheart. Other books include 1066, Stanley, 1759, and Marcus Aurelius. He is a graduate of Wadham College, Oxford, and London University, where he obtained his doctorate.

Also by Frank McLynn

See all

Praise for 1759

Makes a great case for a better appreciation of this, the fourth year of the Seven Years' War

Jad Adams, BBC History Magazine

Robust, intelligent, panoramic history at its best

Andrew Lycett, BBC History Magazine

Frank McLynn is clearly one of those historian-writers so prolific and versatile that he makes you wonder why Simon Schama doesn't pull his finger out

Independent on Sunday

A marvellous book: elegantly written, convincingly argued and packed with fascinating detail... it will do much to restore 1759 to its rightful place among the great years of British history

Saul David, Sunday Times

An erudite and delightful literary and philosophical romp

Herald

McLynn's feisty and highly personal take on the pivot point of the Seven Years War adds fresh perspectives to the old story

Stephen Brumwell, Times Literary Supplement

A stylish and fascinating account of the first global struggle

New Statesman

Splendid

Guardian

Magnificent

Sunday Express

Fascinating

History Today