by Matthew C. Ward. Softbound, 360 pages, 6" x 9". While other historians have focused on the large military campaigns along the Hudson and St. Lawrence Valleys during the Seven Years' War, the author describes the impetus, progress and devastating effects of the war as it played out in the region where it began. He combines Indian history, social history and military history to present a complete picture of the competing interests and struggles facing the people engaged in the conflict. The backcountry colonies not only played a critical part in the war itself, but also opened the door to some of the definitive elements of the next few decades (western expansion, widespread fear and hatred of Indians, free colonial trading, a new spirit of self-reliance, and most crucially, the Revolutionary War and the evolution of a new nation).