Louisbourg: An 18th-Century Town is an in-depth look at what was once a well-known settlement in the New World. As a seaport, Louisbourg possessed one of the busiest harbours in North America. As a fortress, it generated hope in French hearts and fear in British ones. As a community, it was home to thousands of men, women, and children: fishermen and soldiers, merchants and artisans, servants and seamstresses. Voltaire called the colony “the key” to French possessions in North America. Benjamin Franklin described it as a “tough nut to crack.” In the end, British prime minister William Pitt insisted that it be destroyed. Pitt got his wish, yet 200 years later, 18th-century Louisbourg rose again, this time as one of the world’s great outdoor museums.

This well-crafted book, written by historians of the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site and teachers of the Cape Breton District School Board, is an entertaining and informative portrait of this 18th-century town. Its well-illustrated pages provide young readers with material on everything from astronomy and gardening to fashions and siege warfare. It offers a rare opportunity to savour what life was really like in a French military town on Cape Breton Island two centuries ago.

A.J.B. Johnston has published more than a dozen books and hundreds of articles, a thirty-plus years career studying and writing about 18th-century French colonial history in Acadia. In recognition of his prolific career as a historian and writer, John was invested by France with the title Chevalier of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques (Order of Academic Palms). Johnston has now turned his hand to fiction. Long inspired to know more about Thomas Pichon (1700-1781), In his first novel, Thomas, A Secret Life (CBU Press, 2012), Johnston applied his considerable sense of 18th-century French history to imagine young Pichon’s early life in Normandy and Paris. For The Maze, Johnston did extensive research on 18th-century London.

A.J.B. Johnston's profile page