Listen to a short interview with Jon LatimerHost: Chris Gondek | Producer: Heron & Crane

In the first complete history of the War of 1812 written from a British perspective, Jon Latimer offers an authoritative and compelling account that places the conflict in its strategic context within the Napoleonic wars. The British viewed the War of 1812 as an ill-fated attempt by the young American republic to annex Canada. For British Canada, populated by many loyalists who had fled the American Revolution, this was a war for survival. The Americans aimed both to assert their nationhood on the global stage and to expand their territory northward and westward.

Americans would later find in this war many iconic moments in their national story--the bombardment of Fort McHenry (the inspiration for Francis Scott Key's "Star Spangled Banner"); the Battle of Lake Erie; the burning of Washington; the death of Tecumseh; Andrew Jackson's victory at New Orleans--but their war of conquest was ultimately a failure. Even the issues of neutrality and impressment that had triggered the war were not resolved in the peace treaty. For Britain, the war was subsumed under a long conflict to stop Napoleon and to preserve the empire. The one lasting result of the war was in Canada, where the British victory eliminated the threat of American conquest, and set Canadians on the road toward confederation.

Latimer describes events not merely through the eyes of generals, admirals, and politicians but through those of the soldiers, sailors, and ordinary people who were directly affected. Drawing on personal letters, diaries, and memoirs, he crafts an intimate narrative that marches the reader into the heat of battle.

Contents
List of Maps and Illustrations
Note on Place-Names and Currency
Introduction
1. "Canada! Canada! Canada!"
2. Soldiers, Sailors, Immigrants, and Indians
3. Brock-Saviour of Canada
4. Frigates and Privateers
5. Winter on the Lakes
6. Spring on the Frontier
7. Raids and Blockades
8. Tecumseh's Tragedy
9. Crysler's Farm
10. Drummond's Winter Offensive
11. Atlantic and Pacific
12. The Far Northwest
13. The Niagara Frontier
14. Burning the White House
15. Baltimore and Fort Erie
16. Plattsburgh
17. New Orleans
18. The Peace of Christmas Eve
Abbreviations
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index