Best Books on the 18th-Century History of Louisbourg, Canada

by A. J. B. Johnston
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6 books
My years as a staff historian at the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site of Canada taught me a lot about how to research and write. I went through as much of the available documentation (roughly a million pages of original sources on microfilm and over 500 historical maps and plans) as I possibly could. I used some of that material in academic books and scholarly articles; other material (or abridged versions) ended up in on-site exhibits, leaflets, and books aimed at the general public. For all my toil, the government of France—though I am Canadian not French—recognized my body of work about Louisbourg by making me a chevalier of its Ordre des Palmes académiques.
There are six books I recommend to people who want to know more about Louisbourg. Four of the books are mine (of the eight in total, I wrote about different aspects of the place); the other two are by other historians who also know a lot about Louisbourg.
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Louisbourg

Past, Present, and Future
A. J. B. Johnston, 2013
This book offers a well-illustrated introduction to the history of the place, going from its geological context up to the turbulent colonial era when France made Louisbourg its major stronghold in Atlantic Canada, and forces from Great Britain and the Anglo-American colonies captured the place on two occasions. Toward the end of the book, I discuss what happened at Louisbourg in the 19th and 20th centuries and provide a peek ahead at what will likely happen because of rising seas and steadily sinking land.

Endgame 1758

The Promise, the Glory, and the Despair of Louisbourg's Last Decade
A. J. B. Johnston, 2007
This book won one prize and was nominated for another. It is the story of what happened at the French colonial fortified town of Louisbourg between 1749 and 1758. I see it as something of a biography of that colony's final decade, a time when France did all it could to hang onto its possessions in Atlantic Canada and the British launched previously unseen campaigns to capture the French stronghold. It is a dramatic tale, which I present from both the French and British perspectives and, to a limited degree, from that of the Mi'kmaq as well. Endgame 1758 is a tale of two empires in collision on the shores of mid-eighteenth-century Atlantic Canada. In the end, the British capture of Louisbourg was the first major British victory in the Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War).

Control and Order in French Colonial Louisbourg, 1713-1758

A. J. B. Johnston, 2001
This book is essentially my PhD dissertation turned into a book. I used a multitude of primary sources — official correspondence, court records, parish registries, military records, and hundreds of maps and plans — to put together a detailed analysis of a distinctive colonial society. I trace the evolution of a broad range of controlling measures the French introduced to achieve an ordered civil and military society at Louisbourg. Town planning, public celebrations, diversity in the population, use of punishments, excessive alcohol consumption, the criminal justice system, and sexual abuse are some of the subjects I explore.

Life and Religion at Louisbourg, 1713-1758

A. Johnston, 1996
This book is an in-depth look at the religious contexts of life at Louisbourg. There are separate chapters on each of the three religious groups: the Récollets of Brittany, who acted as parish priests and chaplains; the Brothers of Charity of Saint John of God, who operated the King's Hospital; and the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre-Dame, who ran the local school for girls. In addition, I offer an analysis of the overall religious setting of the time period and how religious beliefs and customs were at the center of family and community life at Louisbourg. At the same time, the people of Louisbourg were very parsimonious: they declined to build a parish church and they refused to pay a compulsory tithe.

Louisbourg Portraits

Life in an Eighteenth-Century Garrison Town
Christopher Moore, 1982
Using a wide range of original sources — diaries, letters, official correspondence, criminal cases, and maps and plans — Christopher Moore does a terrific job in this book of presenting the world of 18th-century Louisbourg. He restores to vivid life five individuals who walked the streets of the colony over two and a half centuries ago. Through the dramatically different stories of those five people, Moore offers innumerable insights into what society and culture were like in the French colonial town. First published in 1982, the book won Canada’s Governor General’s prize for best non-fiction book of the year.

Aspects of Louisbourg

Essays on the History of an Eighteenth-century French Community in North America
Eric Krause, Carol Corbin, William A. O'Shea, 1995
For a wide range of scholarly — yet highly readable — essays on the onetime French stronghold, Aspects of Louisbourg offers a great starting point. It’s an eclectic collection of fifteen essays by ten different authors. The focus in each paper varies, with some writers examining economic or social themes, and others looking at military history. From the rugged life of 18th-century fishers to gardens and material culture, to the complexities of the garrison or recent commemorative activities, the essays paint a comprehensive picture of both French colonial Louisbourg and what in the 20th century became the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site of Canada.