Civil War of 1812

American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, & Indian Allies

By: Alan Taylor

Narrated by: Andrew Garman

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Alan Taylor tells the riveting story of a war that redefined North America. In a world of double identities, slippery allegiances, and porous borders, the leaders of the American Republic and the British Empire struggled to control their own diverse peoples. Taylor’s vivid narrative of an often brutal—sometimes farcical—war reveals much about the tangled origins of the United States and Canada.

©2010 Alan Taylor (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC

How My Country Came To Be.

If you could sum up Civil War of 1812 in three words, what would they be?

Interesting Educational Local

What did you like best about this story?

The story explained so much about the area that I live in and how it came to be.

Any additional comments?

I found the narrator, Andrew Garman, to have a tone of voice and presentation manner which held my interest and made it difficult to stop listening. Thank You.

Why Canada is not part of the United States

People may not remember but early Americans expected Canada to join the revolution. Thus the two times the U.S. Invaded Canada -- during the Revolution and the War of 1812 -- to liberate Canada from British rule. Canada declined to be liberated, expelling American forces both times. Taylor's topic is the confusing northern front in the 1812 war: A time when American loyalists filled much of North Canada, the British longed to prove their own ethical and military superiority over the greedy, hypocritical Americans,
Federalists feared the Jeffersonian hostility to commerce and the British, and Republicans longed to demonstrate the power of a citizen militia and purge the crypto-Tories of the Federalist party and Canada. By the end of the war, Canadians had built a new shared civic identity as not Americans and America had embraced the ideal of free, white manhood. Taylor is a fine writer who held my interest over the many chapters. The narrator speaks fluently and well. He also does aan amazibg job with names and words from the many different languages of the participants. I also strongly recomend The Enemy Within, the companion book which examines the war's southern front.

Complete history of The War of 1812

If you could sum up Civil War of 1812 in three words, what would they be?

Many details

What did you like best about this story?

I feel I have heard the complete story. I think I was a little mislead in school.

Any additional comments?

There are many details. Probably more than I wanted to know but at least I know what really happened.

The futile and brutal War of 1812: the promised glory and land gains were never achieved and America was almost lost forever.

This is, as they say, the other side of the story no one ever hears about. Few people know anything about this mis-named and mis-dated episode in early American history, but those who do know something about it usually think it primarily was provoked by the British who were taking sailors off American ships, they went too far by burning down the White House, but we ended it in Baltimore Harbor with bombs bursting in air and the Battle of New Orleans. But that, as it turns out, is only a fraction of the story and it’s terribly misleading or wrong. Turns out, as you’ll read in this excellent and fabulously researched book, that most of the military action, brutality, suffering and deaths occurred at what is now the Canadian-US Border by untrained American militia sent to slaughter by incompetent and corrupt generals. Many who suffered most were innocent civilians on both sides who just wanted to farm in peace. The British were successful overall because they were highly skilled in employing the Indian Tribes to fight most effectively for them but in the end, abandoned them. Warning: the Indian attacks were not pretty and you will wonder how the folks in Washington (which really WAS a swamp back then) ever managed to portray it as a glorious victory in history books. Not this one.

Informative, if a Bit Boring

It's not easy to write an interesting book on the War of 1812. It's hard to explain the reasons for going to war, and even more difficult to explain the lasting impact of the war. The actual war itself isn't very memorable.

Considering all of this I would give Taylor credit for writing a tolerably entertaining and informative book. It's interesting to hear about the US's attempts to invade Canada. If the battles had turned out differently, the borders could be very different as well.

Taylor goes into detail concerning the early political fights that took place in America, with charges of being a francophone or anglophone flying.

A Good Read but Not for Everyone

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Like virtually all history books, ???Civil War of 1812??? focuses on a series of events which are both informative and yet too much detail for many readers. A proud American, I also have friends in Canada, several of whom are French Canadians. Although America tried to invade Canada twice, during the Revolutionary War and later the War of 1812, our two countries have moved on and we have a close friendship with Canada along with its relations with the British Commonwealth. It helps that we are the only country with which Canada has a border and a friendly one at that. An expert from Wikipedia, ???[In a 2009 Canadian poll], 37% of Canadians said the war [of 1812] was a Canadian victory, 9% said the U.S. won, 15% called it a draw, and 39% - mainly younger Canadians - said they knew too little to comment.??? So, if you want to learn more about a series of battles between the U.S. and the British along the eastern Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River, then this book is for you.

What did you like best about this story?

I'm a lover of related, correct detail and from this book know more about the American / Canadian Civil War of 1812 than many Americans or Canadians.

What about Andrew Garman???s performance did you like?

Clearly read with the right pace.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Following the Treaty of Ghent, toward the end of the book, where the hard feelings between America and Canada started to soften a bit.

Any additional comments?

I used to be an omnivorous reader which required me to sit and concentrate. Now, with audio books, I can do chores around the house while listening to books, concentrating just as well.

Entertaining and informative even if biased.

Pretty interesting book I won’t lie and one you will absolutely love if you are British or Canadian but not so much if your American. It’s kind of confusing taking into account the statement at the beginning of this being unbiased. I knew the author was American which made the biased against Americans in this all the more confusing (which is why I say the British and Canadians will love it) and it’s especially obvious once the raison river massacre is mentioned. But all in all a very informative read and one I think Brit’s and Canadians will be championing for years. But before they get too excited and mail a copy of this book to all of their American friends, remember what would happen today. and for that matter what happened 30ish years before 1812.

Outstanding !

Insight that few Americans have - how the Americans revolution really ended! Highly intelligent and brilliantly researched

Excellent book

If you pay attention to the text, you will see that this country is not as divided as the media portrays.

Refreshing...kinda

What did you love best about Civil War of 1812?

Well, written and more balanced than usual.

What three words best describe Andrew Garman’s voice?

Measured, well-enunciated, but with occasional mispronunciations,

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No

Any additional comments?

Given that the author is an American historian, he is reasonably even-handed and does not portray the War of 1812 in the usual starry-eyed, "it was a glorious victory really" style of most American history. He does, however, occasionally fall into that habit Americans have of portraying the British as a mere foil against which Americans tested their fitness for greatness. He also makes some annoying mistakes which a serious historian should not make, even when talking about a foreign power - he keeps referring to the "imperial lords" (I think he means the British Government) and on one occasion refers to "Lord Wellington". Who? The real strength of the book is to point out the complexities of American motives for the war. He places front and centre the objective of breaking British power in North America, the destruction of Indian resistance (both closely interconnected) and the possible windfall outcome of those objectives, the absorption of Upper Canada. He does not sugar-coat the fiasco that was the American Army's performance on the Canadian frontier. For those looking for a general history of the war, they will be disappointed that he does not cover the naval war or British amphibious operations against American shores in any depth (for this, from a British perspective, see Latimer, "The Challenge"). Similarly, although he is excellent on the internal politics of Canada and the US, he does little to explore the economic effects of the war on the US, probably the key issue of the time.He is also very good on the conclusion to the war, and in particular the British Government's sudden switch from holding out tough terms from the Americans to essentially giving the US everything it wanted. Interestingly, he suggests this switch came after Wellington advised to give the US whatever it wanted, and concentrate on the real issues in Europe. Perhaps Mr. Taylor should have subtitled his book "How the Duke of Wellington Saved the Republic"!