Montreal is intriguing. For centuries, people have written, talked, and sung about it, enthusiastically, romantically, even sullenly, but never indifferently. Surprisingly, NO OTHER recent book in English recounts the history of the largest French-speaking city in the Americas, likely the second largest in the world. Close to 500 years ago, Jacques Cartier glowingly described Hochelaga, Montreal’s predecessor, and the surrounding country as “the finest and most excellent one