A great analysis of the French colonial model and an historiographic leap forward... The best and most reliable synthesis I have read on the subject yet. -- Denys Delage, Universite Laval A very useful synthesis... From this story of an embattled Pax Gallica emerge larger-than-life characters like Nicolas Perrot, Duluth, Tonti 'Iron Hand,' Cadillac, Louvigny, the Huron Kondiaronk, and the Iroquois Black Kettle-important men too often neglected in American historiography. -- Gilles Havard, author of The Great Peace of Montreal of 1701: French-Native Diplomacy in the Seventeenth Century The Upper Country presents an impressive scope of the past in an easy-to-read, accessible style that is sometimes laced with wonderfully dry humor. Clearly a passionate labor of love, it is a story masterfully told which brings this era and its participants to life again. -- Timothy J. Kent, historian, author, living-history researcher An excellent book. -- Dale Miquelon, University of Saskatchewan 2010 An easily accessible handbook for historians. -- Benjamin G. Scharff

The Upper Country melds myth and conventional history to provide a memorable tale of French designs in the middle of what became the United States. Putting the reader on the battlefields, at the trading posts, and on the rivers with voyageurs and their allies from the Indian nations, Claiborne Skinner reveals the saintly missionaries and jolly fur traders of popular myth as agents of a hard-nosed, often ruthless, imperial endeavor. Skinner's engaging narrative takes the reader through daily life at posts like Forts Saint Louis and Michilimakinac, illuminates the complexities of interracial marriage with the courtship of Michel Aco at Peoria, and explains how France's New World adventurism played a role in the outbreak of the Seven Years War and the beginning of the modern era. In this story, many of the traditional heroes and villains of American history take on surprising roles. The last Stuart kings of England seem shrewd and even human; George Washington makes his debut appearance on the stage of history by assassinating a French officer and plunging Europe into the first truly global war. From unthinkable hardship to dreams of fur trade profits, this fascinating exploration sheds new light on France and its imperial venture into the Great Lakes.