Communications

     Your readers should be aware of a major misstatement in Harold E. Selesky's review of my book, Losing a Continent: France's North American Policy, 1753–1763, in the July issue of the William and Mary Quarterly, 3d Ser, 59 (2002), 746–67. He writes: "Brecher's conclusion that France's defeat in North America 'may be seen as an inevitable consequence of Bourbon ineptness' (p. 188) is another example of how he follows in Parkman's footsteps." The full sentence from which Selesky extracted that simplistic quote gives a more accurate picture of my "conclusion," which is quite far from Parkman's: "In retrospect, France's departure from North America, 1753–63, may be seen as an inevitable consequence of Bourbon ineptness, limited French interest in colonizing that difficult land, and pressure from its locally more powerful Anglo-Saxon neighbors, who were determined to dispossess it there and also in India and parts of Africa."

     Regrettably, this misleading manner of seeking to bolster his analysis is evident in other of Selesky's observations. For example, my book contains many multiples of the eighteen works listed in the section, "For Further Reading," which quite clearly was meant merely to supplement the citation of books, including all the key collections of primary sources in French and English, whose full publication data are contained in the endnotes.

     As Selesky is not shy about identifying factual errors in his comments on other books in his review, I think it worthwhile for me to underline that none are mentioned regarding mine.

New York City

Frank W. Brecher

Harold Selesky replies:

     Thank you for the opportunity to respond to Frank W. Brecher's letter concerning my review of his book, Losing a Continent: France's North American Policy, 1753–1763, in the July 2002 issue of the Quarterly. Brecher raises three issues, and I will comment on each in turn. . . .