Empires at War does not fit in the modern trend toward creative non-fiction history books. William Fowler, the American author of numerous books on 18th- and 19th-century U.S. naval history, writes solidly within the realm of well-researched, yet accessible, traditional history.

The Seven Years’ War, or the French and Indian War as it is known in North America, pitted Britain and Prussia against France, Austria, Russia, and Spain. The war and its consequences created English Canada, sowed the seed of the American Revolution, and established the British Empire, whose vast resource base fuelled the Industrial Revolution. It was a pivotal time, and Fowler does an excellent job of putting it in its proper perspective, both in terms of the fighting and the political machinations.

Fowler rightly places North American events at the centre of his narrative. Despite the bloody, indecisive engagements being fought in Europe, the war was really an imperial conflict. The real struggle took place in the colonies. Britain, France, and the indigenous peoples of eastern North America had been undertaking a complex dance of alliances, raids, and massacres for almost 100 years before James Wolfe settled the issue by sending his soldiers up the heights to defeat Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham in 1759.

Fowler also keeps the fluid campaigns in focus, does well to hold a sometimes bewildering cast of characters – from George Washington to Frederick the Great – in perspective, and splendidly describes the almost comic-opera manoeuvrings of the exclusively self-interested American colonies. Extensive chapter notes and an index help the history student, while 13 pages of biographical sketches and chronology aid the casual reader.