Books: The Smell of Powder

WOLFE AT QUEBEC (194 pp.)—Christopher Hibbert—World ($4.50).

WILLIAM DIAMOND'S DRUM (311 pp.) —Arthur Bernon Tourtellot—Doubleday ($5.95).

The battles of Quebec (1759), where Britain gained an empire, and Lexington (1775), where it began to lose one, were two of the most important actions fought in North America. As carefully retold by Authors Christopher (King Mob) Hibbert and Arthur (The Charles) Tourtellot. Quebec and Lexington come to life again with the gunpowder scent of real history. As with so many battles, these were ineptly lost, haphazardly won.

Agony & Ambition. In Wolfe at Quebec, Historian Hibbert...