Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1993768 in Books
• Published on: 2006-12-14
• Formats: Audiobook, CD, Unabridged
• Original language: English
• Binding: Audio CD

From Publishers Weekly
Langguth follows his popular Patriots with a fast-paced account of the War of 1812. Ostensibly a fight over the impressment of American sailors by the British, this little-understood three-year conflict was really about who controlled the middle of North America. As the subtitle suggests, Langguth argues that only with America's second victory over England did the new nation fully confirm its sovereignty over the vast western territories. Langguth thankfully takes his time setting up the war, spending 150 pages walking readers through the first decade of the 1800s, when Thomas Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase and attempted an ill-fated embargo against Britain. Though not a traditional military history, this book has a few rip-roaring battle scenes, such as Andrew Jackson's famous routing of the British at New Orleans. Langguth presents the War of 1812 as a pivot, the end of the era of early America. The war's end unleashed the next stage of aggressive expansionism. Langguth's prose is vivid, and he brings to life a panoply of personalities, from Dolley Madison to Tecumseh. He hasn't broken new ground, but he has provided a panoramic view of a decisive event in American military and political history. B&w illus., 5 maps. 100,000 first printing.(Nov.)
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From AudioFile
While the United States achieved independence from Britain in 1782, the state of the Union was precarious in the three-and-a-half decades that followed. The war with Britain known as the War of 1812 helped to cement the Union and to solidify a sense of American nationalism--though, as seen in New England's calls for secession, even this was precarious. With his strong and confident voice Grover Gardner takes us on a journey from Washington's Mount Vernon to the battlefield of New Orleans and beyond. He reads at an easygoing, but in no way lackadaisical, pace. His delivery is reminiscent of a lecturer giving a long monologue on a subject with which he is very familiar. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
Interest in the War of 1812 has revived, and Langguth contributes his narrative to a body of recent popular books by Robert Remini (The Battle of New Orleans, 1999), Walter Borneman (1812, 2004), and Ian Toll (Six Frigates, 2006). The salient features of Langguth's recounting are, first, a summary history of America's frictions with Britain during the presidencies of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison, and, second, an emphasis on military leaders of the war itself. Titling most chapters after a president or a military officer, Langguth details the two decades preceding the War of 1812, in which the permanence of the Union was open to question, wars with Indians periodically erupted on the frontier, and the British navy harassed American trade. These issues conflated into the war, whose battles around the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, and the Gulf Coast Langguth generally presents from the viewpoint of the commanders on the scene. Langguth gives a good accounting of the personalities in charge of the overall conflict. Gilbert Taylor
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