James FitzGibbon, Defender of Upper Canada, is the often poignant story of a poor man's rise to authority in the Upper Canada of the 1800s.

Born the son of a tenant farmer in Ireland, FitzGibbon's valour as a soldier brought him to the attention of those destined for power in the Canadas. Hero of the Battle of Beaver Dams in 1813, one o the decisive battles in the War of 1812, FitzGibbon's brilliance as tactician and negotiator was needed time and again whether to settle Irish unrest on the Cornwall Canal, or to organize Toronto's defence against William Lyon Mackenzie's rebel...