Synopses & Reviews
In A. J. Langguth's classic
Patriots: The Men Who Started the American Revolution, he brought to life leaders from the generation of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson in all of their complexity, with their great strengths and human frailties. In
Union 1812, those men appear again, tempered now by age and new responsibilities.
James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, must decide whether to go to war again only thirty years after the American Revolution.
Washington, Adams, and Jefferson had all made major concessions to avoid entangling their young and divided nation in new battles with Europe. But the War Hawks, aggressive congressmen from the South and West, are demanding that Madison take action to uphold America's honor against Great Britain.
In this gripping narrative of the second and final war of independence, Madison leads an unprepared nation into a struggle that will establish the United States as a major world power and stake its claim to the entire continent.
As the war begins, the U.S. Navy consists of seventeen oceangoing ships; the British fleet numbers seven hundred. Nor is the country united in its will to win. Governors in New England are refusing to call out their militia, while mobs attack antiwar newspaper editors in Baltimore in a violent repetition of the Boston Massacre.
Dramatic scenes range across the world, from vicious fighting on the frontier -- one British officer compares the hand-to-hand combat with the savagery of bulldogs -- to Dolley Madison's elegant receptions at the executive mansion and the wrangling among America's peace delegates in Belgium at Ghent.
Before the outcome is decided, the war will have engulfed land and sea, with a disastrous U.S. defeat at Detroit and epic naval campaigns on the Great Lakes. After the Americans sack Toronto, the British retaliate by burning the White House and the Capitol and laying siege with their rockets to Fort McHenry.
Finally, two and a half years of bloodshed and botched strategies culminate in the spectacular battle of New Orleans.
The heroes of Patriots are joined here by dozens of the most colorful and enduring characters from America's past: not only the diminutive and brilliant Madison and the statuesque Dolley, but also Sam Houston and Davy Crockett, Oliver Perry and Stephen Decatur, the great Shawnee chieftain Tecumseh, and four legendary men who will follow Madison into the White House -- James Monroe, William Henry Harrison, John Quincy Adams, and the triumphant hero Andrew Jackson.
For too long, the War of 1812 has been ignored or misunderstood. Union 1812 thrillingly illustrates why it must take its place as one of the defining moments in American history.
Review
"Never again after this masterly work will 1812 be a forgotten war. Langguth brilliantly restores the war to its rightful place in American history while at the same time giving us a rousing good story that holds our attention from beginning to end."
-- Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals
Review
"Union 1812 both fills a gaping hole in our early history and inventively and persuasively anchors the War of 1812 to the founding process, giving us portraits not only of players like Madison, Tecumseh, Jackson, and Harrison, but also of the revolutionary heroes Jefferson, Adams, and Washington, whose contributions take on new meaning in light of this 'second war of independence' and the true opening of the American West." -- William Hogeland, author of The Whiskey Rebellion
Synopsis
A narrative of the War of 1812 links its events to the War of Independence and American beliefs about Manifest Destiny, in an account that documents key battles while evaluating the contributions of such figures as Thomas Jefferson, Dolley Madison, and Davy Crockett. 100,000 first printing.
Synopsis
In the second and final war of independence, Madison leads an unprepared nation into a struggle that will establish the United States as a major world power and stake its claim to the entire continent. Before the outcome is decided, the war will have engulfed land and sea, with a disastrous U.S. defeat at Detroit and epic naval campaigns on the Great Lakes. After the Americans sack Toronto, the British retaliate by burning the White House and the Capitol. Finally, two and a half years of bloodshed and botched strategies culminate in the spectacular battle of New Orleans. We also meet colorful characters from America's past: not only James and Dolley Madison, but also Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, Oliver Perry, Stephen Decatur, the great Shawnee chieftain Tecumseh, and four men who will follow Madison into the White House--James Monroe, William Henry Harrison, John Quincy Adams, and war hero Andrew Jackson. --From publisher description.A narrative of the War of 1812 links it to the War of Independence and American beliefs about Manifest Destiny, documenting key battles while evaluating the contributions of such figures as Thomas Jefferson, Dolley Madison, and Davy Crockett.
Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction: Union
Chapter 1: Homecoming (1783-1787)
Chapter 2: Philadelphia (1787-1788)
Chapter 3: Washington (1789-1797)
Chapter 4: Adams (1797-1801)
Chapter 5: Jefferson (1801-1804)
Chapter 6: Andrew Jackson (1805-1807)
Chapter 7: Zebulon Pike (1805-1807)
Chapter 8: Embargo (1807-1808)
Chapter 9: Madison (1809-1812)
Chapter 10: Tecumseh (1812)
Chapter 11: William Hull (1812)
Chapter 12: Isaac Brock: Detroit (1812)
Chapter 13: Isaac Hull (1812)
Chapter 14: Isaac Brock: Queenston (1812)
Chapter 15: John Armstrong, Jr. (1813)
Chapter 16: York (1813)
Chapter 17: Oliver Perry (1813)
Chapter 18: William Henry Harrison (1813)
Chapter 19: Creek Wars (1813-1814)
Chapter 20: Dolley Madison (1814)
Chapter 21: Ghent (1814)
Chapter 22: New Orleans (1814-1815)
Chapter 23: Peace (1815)
Chapter 24: Afterward (1815-1861)
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index