100 Books Like Sea Power in its Relations to the War of 1812

Studies for general readers tend to be weak. An exception that logically would form an example of a popular writer’s efforts in an essential library is John Sugden’s Tecumseh. The Indigenous history of the war is poorly understood, and often suffers from grim biases when non-specialists write about the First Nations. This text on the most famous of the conflict’s Native participants presents readers with an accessible biography aimed at general audiences within the context of the wider issues that afflicted the Shawnees and other tribes of the “Old Northwest” in today’s Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and neighbouring regions. Another, older meritorious book is by Cherokee author R. David Edmunds, who wrote Tecumseh and the Quest for Indian Leadership. Dr. Edmunds is well known for other important books in Indigenous history, and like British historian John Sugden, is well worth reading for his insights, presented through strong… show more.

This study is by far the best single-volume history of the war. John Stagg is a prolific, American-based historian, known in particular for his leadership in editing the Papers of James Madison, the president who took his country to war with Great Britain in 1812. Dr. Stagg’s book covers all the important themes about the conflict, and, despite having been published in 1983, has not been superseded. Anyone wanting a strong, detailed, and complete study could not find a better option. 

Mr. Madison’s War is, however, a serious academic study, so some readers might find it “hard-going.” There are other one-volume studies of the conflict in print, but most of them strike me as being more than a little deficient. Two of the most accessible and reliable standard-length overviews for those unwilling to take on John Stagg are J.M. Hitsman’s The Incredible War of 1812, updated and edited by… show more.

The 1813 American campaign against Montreal posed the most dangerous threat to Canadian security during the war until it climaxed with British victories at Châteauguay and Crysler’s Farm. Oddly, it is not known as well as those that occurred on the Niagara Peninsula or in the territories surrounding the western end of Lake Erie. Field of Glory is a detailed and much appreciated narrative of that campaign. Any basic library of the war should include a least one comprehensive ground-level study of the fighting, and this book is one of the best of the genre, along with the other two that comprise Don Graves’s “Forgotten Soldiers Trilogy,” Where Right and Glory Lead! The Battle of Lundy’s Lane, 1814; and All Their Glory Past: Fort Erie, Plattsburgh, and the Final Battle of the North, 1814.

In contrast, a large percentage of other campaign histories tend to be written… show more.

There are an enormous range of themes associated with the War of 1812, from the war’s social contexts to Black history, to the Treaty of Ghent that ended the conflict, to the war’s place in history and memory, and many other topics. In a five-book essential list, they can’t be covered adequately, but readers may turn to essay collections to examine a good number of these concerns. This volume is the best of such collections, with most of its essays having been written by leading experts in the field. It also captures a good sense of the understanding of the war at the time of its bicentennial years of 2012-15 when historical interest was particularly strong and when scholars re-evaluated many of our commonly held assumptions. Now, ten years on, these essays have held up well. One word of warning, however: the chronology looks authoritative but isn’t. Some of the… show more.

I grew up in upstate New York near the Canadian border, and one of the crucial battles of this war was fought there. When I was growing up, we were told this war was a successful one for the United States, and Taylor shows how this was true in some ways but not very true at all in others. 

This is a sprawling tale with a huge cast of characters, and it includes the perspectives of ordinary people from various groups.

Thavolia Glymph analyzes the many ways that women—white and Black, enslaved and free, North and South—sought to promote or constrain the radical transformations promised by the Civil War. She interweaves well-known stories of white nurses and teachers and northern white feminists who labored to expand their claims on the nation with the lesser-known efforts of free, fugitive, and self-emancipated Black women and poor and working-class white women to ensure that the war led to greater liberty. Even some plantation mistresses became more politically active in efforts to impede Union military campaigns. This powerful book expands our concept of activism, forcing us to rethink its many meanings, sites, and goals in times of crisis. 

While the outcome of the naval war was a foregone conclusion, the United States Navy and a swarm of privateers punched well above their weight, humiliating the world’s preeminent navy early in the conflict and boosting American national morale. There are a number of excellent books on the naval history of the conflict, but, carefully researched and accessibly written, Perilous Fight is my favorite telling of this critical aspect of the War of 1812.

There are many great books written about the fledgling US Navy that came into its own during the campaign of 1812.  As an Army officer, I was compelled to read them all when researching if my book, Old Ironsides, Eagle of the Sea if I were to compete with that of the ‘old saults’. George was challenged not only to define the complexities of the fledgling American frigates, but to contrast it with the proven rulers of the waves.  The British navy had not had a significant challenge since the magnificent history laid down by captain Horacio Nelson. The unpresented victories over the Royal Navy’s frigates were “uncalled for” according to the London Times. If there is one book to read about the epic struggle at sea, this is the one to choose.

If you want to know how the British and Canadians view the war, this is the book for you. The original edition was published in 1965 but lacked documentation. For the revised edition, a team of Canadian scholars headed by Donald E. Graves added a host of appendices with new material and tracked down sources to give the volume appropriate documentation. 

A congressman during the War of 1812, Charles Ingersoll took on the role of journalist and historian in the years that followed. He interviewed key players during the lead-up and aftermath of the burning of the White House. Though his sketch is dense, he provides some of the most important details not covered in other accounts from the era. Ingersoll also provides some of the most inspirational, cinematic quotes coming out of the burning of the U.S. Capitol. 

"The smoldering fires of the Capitol were spices of the phoenix bed, from which a rose offspring more vigorous, beautiful and long-lived," Ingersoll wrote. "The immediate and enthusiastic effect of the fall of Washington was electric revival of national spirit and universal energy."