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Равнините на Абраам
A beautiful tale of life on the Eastern American frontier of the mid 1700''s in the Adirondack and Lake Champlain regions of upper New York state. "The Plains of Abraham" is based partly on a true story taken from the Pennsylvania Register of 1765, which told of a number of white women and their children who were "rescued" by British forces and returned to frontier towns. Their Indian families cried for missing them so, and the sentiments were returned to such an extent by their former "captives" that many of those women and children sneaked off in the night to rejoin their Indian families.
248 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2001
9 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
About the author
James Oliver Curwood
982 books123 followersBorn in Owosso, Michigan he left high school without graduating but was able to pass the entrance exams to the University of Michigan where he studied journalism. In 1900, Curwood sold his first story while working for the Detroit News-Tribune. By 1909 he had saved enough money to travel to the Canadian northwest, a trip that provided the inspiration for his wilderness adventure stories. The success of his novels afforded him the opportunity to return to the Yukon and Alaska for several months each year that allowed him to write more than thirty such books.
By 1922, Curwood's writings had made him a very wealthy man and he fulfilled a childhood fantasy by building Curwood Castle in Owosso. Constructed in the style of an 18th century French chateau, the estate overlooked the Shiawassee River. In one of the home's two large turrets, Curwood set up his writing studio. Curwood also owned a camp in a remote area in Baraga County, Michigan, near the Huron Mountains.
An advocate of environmentalism, Curwood was appointed to the Michigan Conservation Commission in 1926. The following year, while on a Florida fishing trip, Curwood was bitten on the thigh by what was believed to have been a spider and had an immediate allergic reaction. Health problems related to the bite escalated over the next few months and infection set in that led to his death from blood poisoning.
Interred in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Owosso, his Curwood Castle is now a museum. During the first full weekend in June of each year, the city of Owosso holds the Curwood Festival to celebrate the city's heritage . Also in his honor, a mountain in L'Anse Township, Michigan was given the name Mount Curwood, and the L'Anse Township Park was renamed Curwood Park.
By 1922, Curwood's writings had made him a very wealthy man and he fulfilled a childhood fantasy by building Curwood Castle in Owosso. Constructed in the style of an 18th century French chateau, the estate overlooked the Shiawassee River. In one of the home's two large turrets, Curwood set up his writing studio. Curwood also owned a camp in a remote area in Baraga County, Michigan, near the Huron Mountains.
An advocate of environmentalism, Curwood was appointed to the Michigan Conservation Commission in 1926. The following year, while on a Florida fishing trip, Curwood was bitten on the thigh by what was believed to have been a spider and had an immediate allergic reaction. Health problems related to the bite escalated over the next few months and infection set in that led to his death from blood poisoning.
Interred in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Owosso, his Curwood Castle is now a museum. During the first full weekend in June of each year, the city of Owosso holds the Curwood Festival to celebrate the city's heritage . Also in his honor, a mountain in L'Anse Township, Michigan was given the name Mount Curwood, and the L'Anse Township Park was renamed Curwood Park.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
March 28, 2021
Необятната шир на днешна Канада през 18-ти век. Французи и англичани вече са се нанесли неканени и дори са имали време както да се смесят, така и да започнат война помежду си. Междувременно никой не обръща внимание, че там си има и местно население, което не е особено щастливо да бъде изтласквано все повече от чужденците.
Заслуга на Кърууд е, че отчита този факт, и чрез приключенията и любовта на двамата си млади герои показва трагедията на ирокезите. За времето, когато е писан романът, определено не е бил в съгласие с общите възгледи.
Заслуга на Кърууд е, че отчита този факт, и чрез приключенията и любовта на двамата си млади герои показва трагедията на ирокезите. За времето, когато е писан романът, определено не е бил в съгласие с общите възгледи.
January 12, 2016
I am in agreement with so many other reviewers of this book. It is a book I read while in high school, now decades later I still remember reading it and absolutely loving it! So many books we can read and forget we have read it. This book is one of those few, where it takes you on this marvellous journey and educates you at the same time, it became one of those friends, in a way, that influenced my life for the better, and because of that, won't be forgotten either.
May 6, 2019
This fictional treatment of the French and Indian War (remember that?) taught me more than I learned in history class. Set two decades before The Revolutionary War the book is footnoted with documentation to show the facts upon which the novel was built.
While the war itself, as in the engagement between the French and English, was fairly predictable, the lion's share of the book is built around the life of a character who has an English mother and a French father, thus the allegiances are always in conflict.
The Indian information is surprising by being both brutal and tender. The reality of white captives who became integrated in the tribes of their captives is a large theme in the book. The fact that white "slavery" was fairly common in the days before the revolution is generally skipped over in history, perhaps because many of the "captives" did not want to be "saved" when the opportunities arrived.
The very informative book is the first of a two book treatment of these ideas, the second being "The Black Hunter" which I will soon be reading.
Curwood is, of course, a man who reflects and earlier time, but the information he offers is often amazing and frequently educational; his plots are full of surprises, and keep you turning the pages.
While the war itself, as in the engagement between the French and English, was fairly predictable, the lion's share of the book is built around the life of a character who has an English mother and a French father, thus the allegiances are always in conflict.
The Indian information is surprising by being both brutal and tender. The reality of white captives who became integrated in the tribes of their captives is a large theme in the book. The fact that white "slavery" was fairly common in the days before the revolution is generally skipped over in history, perhaps because many of the "captives" did not want to be "saved" when the opportunities arrived.
The very informative book is the first of a two book treatment of these ideas, the second being "The Black Hunter" which I will soon be reading.
Curwood is, of course, a man who reflects and earlier time, but the information he offers is often amazing and frequently educational; his plots are full of surprises, and keep you turning the pages.
September 5, 2017
Spellbinding
I don't think there are many men alive now who can think in such excellent language, much less write it, and weave a beautiful adventure and love story as well. Truly amazing.
I don't think there are many men alive now who can think in such excellent language, much less write it, and weave a beautiful adventure and love story as well. Truly amazing.
June 6, 2017
reading a second time - now as a read aloud - so much Canadian history tied up in this fictitious story that is really eye-opening... it was the French and the English who were responsible for the Native Americans to begin that horrific act of scalping? They didn't do this before white man came to their shores?!
October 11, 2014
When I read this book the first time, I was a teenager and the story has stayed with me all these years!
July 6, 2018
The Plains of Abraham by Curwood
This book gives a stunning picture of New France during the Seven Years War, however I really dislike it. The story is extremely descriptive, almost poetic and I don’t think it would interest most young people. There is an almost worshipful attitude towards fighting. “Fighting, if jolly and well intended, lifts the soul to glorious heights; it makes you laugh as well as cry, and cleans out all the thistles and weeds in the back yards o’ your life, making you broader minded and stronger o’ blood.” p 82 Everyone fights, almost to the death, with their friends!
The main character is in love (from a very young age) with his neighbor girl who, of course, despises him and treats him terribly, until his family is slaughtered when she instantly regrets everything and falls in love with him.
P84 “…it wasn’t the Indians who brought hair to us—we sent them out to get it.” Lynne interprets this to mean that the white people started the scalping. I’m not sure I read it this way. Weren’t they scalping before the white people arrived? Obviously the French/English seemed to encourage it, but did they start it?
P126 Oh, it’s definitely claimed here: “Until 1637 scalping was unknown in New England. The church-loving Puritans began by offering cash for the heads of their enemies.”
P293 “It is recorded that Jeems Bulain was one of the few who dug the two long trenches in which the massacred English were buried. Signs of these trenches with almost the spade marks left by Jeems’s hand are clearly visible today in the hollow below the ruins of the old fort.” From August 1757 capture of Fort William Henry, or Fort George, and witnessed the massacre of the English garrison by uncontrollable French Indians led by the Abenakis…. (continues to explain the utter horror)
This book gives a stunning picture of New France during the Seven Years War, however I really dislike it. The story is extremely descriptive, almost poetic and I don’t think it would interest most young people. There is an almost worshipful attitude towards fighting. “Fighting, if jolly and well intended, lifts the soul to glorious heights; it makes you laugh as well as cry, and cleans out all the thistles and weeds in the back yards o’ your life, making you broader minded and stronger o’ blood.” p 82 Everyone fights, almost to the death, with their friends!
The main character is in love (from a very young age) with his neighbor girl who, of course, despises him and treats him terribly, until his family is slaughtered when she instantly regrets everything and falls in love with him.
P84 “…it wasn’t the Indians who brought hair to us—we sent them out to get it.” Lynne interprets this to mean that the white people started the scalping. I’m not sure I read it this way. Weren’t they scalping before the white people arrived? Obviously the French/English seemed to encourage it, but did they start it?
P126 Oh, it’s definitely claimed here: “Until 1637 scalping was unknown in New England. The church-loving Puritans began by offering cash for the heads of their enemies.”
P293 “It is recorded that Jeems Bulain was one of the few who dug the two long trenches in which the massacred English were buried. Signs of these trenches with almost the spade marks left by Jeems’s hand are clearly visible today in the hollow below the ruins of the old fort.” From August 1757 capture of Fort William Henry, or Fort George, and witnessed the massacre of the English garrison by uncontrollable French Indians led by the Abenakis…. (continues to explain the utter horror)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 21, 2019
A lovely read about a complicated passage in history, this old chestnut is worth picking up. I read it because I'm going on vacation in Quebec, where it's set. But it's a great story for anyone -- at times, heartwarming and even laugh-out-loud funny; at other times, horrifying and sad. Curwood produced a well researched glimpse of colonial North America that many of us have not contemplated. Prepare for a few shockers and some food for thought. I had so much fun reading it that I'm already knee-deep in its prequel, The Black Hunter.
September 24, 2022
Oddly, this was the second book I read after the Lord of the Rings (and Hobbit - let’s just call them one thing). I just found the battered old copy I lugged around in 7th grade. I wasn’t exactly inspired to read voraciously after this if that is any indication if it’s quality
March 31, 2019
This is my favorite Curwood book (my grandmother’s, too) — I read it many times when I was younger. Returning to it after 15-20 years, I wondered whether it would be as compelling as ever. It was.
In this reading, I especially noticed how clear Curwood was on who was at fault for encouraging the tradition of scalping and fomenting the trouble that led to many deaths in what we often call the French and Indian War, also known as the Six Years War, if I recall correctly. His view seems balanced, and much fairer to Native Americans than many writers of his generation.
In this reading, I especially noticed how clear Curwood was on who was at fault for encouraging the tradition of scalping and fomenting the trouble that led to many deaths in what we often call the French and Indian War, also known as the Six Years War, if I recall correctly. His view seems balanced, and much fairer to Native Americans than many writers of his generation.
January 13, 2020
A fictionalized true story about the French and Indian War, mostly from the French perspective. What a wonderful, beautiful book.
February 25, 2023
Wow, this is a fascinating look at life before the Revolution. What an epic adventure story!
November 2, 2023
School
December 9, 2025
Classic. One of the best.
March 23, 2013
Бледолики срещу бледолики в “Равнините на Абраам” на Кърууд: http://knigolandia.info/book-review/r...
Носталгията е голяма работа. При всяко ходене у дома, във Видин, хвърлям поглед на поразкъсаните три тома на “Синовете на Великата мечка” и им се заканвам, че пак ще поемем из прерията с Твърдокаменния Харка Нощното око Стрелеца по бизони Убиеца на вълци Ловеца на мечки Токай-Ихто, но все не смогвам. Пък и малко ме е страх – не съм ги чел от има-няма десетина години и не знам какви ще са сега, дали магията ще я има още. Вярвам, че няма да бъде различно от някога, но не мога да съм сигурен.
Виж още: http://knigolandia.info/book-review/r...
Носталгията е голяма работа. При всяко ходене у дома, във Видин, хвърлям поглед на поразкъсаните три тома на “Синовете на Великата мечка” и им се заканвам, че пак ще поемем из прерията с Твърдокаменния Харка Нощното око Стрелеца по бизони Убиеца на вълци Ловеца на мечки Токай-Ихто, но все не смогвам. Пък и малко ме е страх – не съм ги чел от има-няма десетина години и не знам какви ще са сега, дали магията ще я има още. Вярвам, че няма да бъде различно от някога, но не мога да съм сигурен.
Виж още: http://knigolandia.info/book-review/r...
January 31, 2022
one I will love forever!
March 3, 2016
What a life!
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August 14, 2018James Oliver Curwood never disappoints, he puts you in another time, another place. This was my favorite of his.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews