Description: This book is a narrative history of the many dimensions of the War of 1812 - social, diplomatic, military, and political - which places the war's origins and conduct in transatlantic perspective. The events of 1812-1815 were shaped by the larger crisis of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. In synthesizing and reinterpreting scholarship on the war, Professor J. C. A. Stagg focuses on the war as a continental event, highlighting its centrality to Canadian nationalism and state development. The book introduces the war to students and general readers, concluding that it resulted in many ways from an emerging nation-state trying to contend with the effects of rival European nationalisms, both in Europe itself and in the Atlantic world.
Brief description: J. C. A. Stagg is Professor of History at the University of Virginia. He is the author of two books on James Madison, as well as many articles on the political, military and diplomatic history of the early American republic. He has edited or co-edited seventeen volumes of the papers of James Madison. He currently serves on the editorial board of the War of 1812 Magazine and the board of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Commission.
Review Quotes: "This is the most judicious general overview of the War of 1812 with which I am familiar. J. C. A. Stagg long ago established himself as a leading authority on President James Madison and his administration's handling of this too-often-neglected conflict. It is a tribute to Stagg - and a boon to readers - that he has been able to condense his immense expertise into such a readable and insightful book." - Andrew Cayton, Miami University