This book goes beyond more conventional histories to address the deeper enigmas that confront a student of the past. In order to do so, the author reconstructs--and at times reinvents--two ambiguous deaths: the first, that of General James Wolfe at the battle of Quebec in 1759; the second, in 1849, that of George Parkman, an eccentric Boston brahmin whose murder by an impecunious Harvard professor in 1849 was a grisly reproach to the moral sanctity of his society. Out of these stories--with all of their bizarre coincidences and contradictions--the author creates a vital work of historical imagination.

Originally published: First edition New York : Knopf, 1991.

Pt. 1. The many deaths of General Wolfe. At the face of the cliff -- In command -- Deep in the forest -- On the heights of Abraham -- Pt. 2. Death of a Harvard man. Honest sweat : the blacksmith's son -- Income : the pedestrian -- Enterprise : the janitor -- Debt : skyrocket Jack -- Taking stock : the prisoner and the public -- Accounts rendered : lawyers, doctors and other solid citizens -- Payment pending : the press, the preachers and the prisoner -- Settlements : the legatees.