The Invasion of Canada
1812-1813
- Publisher
- Doubleday Canada
- Initial publish date
- Aug 2001
- Category
- War of 1812, Pre-Confederation (to 1867), 19th Century
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9780385658393
- Publish Date
- Aug 2001
- List Price
- $24.95
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Where to buy it
Description
To America's leaders in 1812, an invasion of Canada seemed to be "a mere matter of marching," as Thomas Jefferson confidently predicted. How could a nation of 8 million fail to subdue a struggling colony of 300,000? Yet, when the campaign of 1812 ended, the only Americans left on Canadian soil were prisoners of war. Three American armies had been forced to surrender, and the British were in control of all of Michigan Territory and much of Indiana and Ohio.
In this remarkable account of the war's first year and the events that led up to it, Pierre Berton transforms history into an engrossing narrative that reads like a fast-paced novel. Drawing on personal memoirs and diaries as well as official dispatches, the author has been able to get inside the characters of the men who fought the war — the common soldiers as well as the generals, the bureaucrats and the profiteers, the traitors and the loyalists.
Berton believes that if there had been no war, most of Ontario would probably be American today; and if the war had been lost by the British, all of Canada would now be part of the United States. But the War of 1812, or more properly the myth of the war, served to give the new settlers a sense of community and set them on a different course from that of their neighbours.
About the author
Pierre Berton, well-known and well-loved Canadian author, journalist, and media personality, hailed from Whitehorse, Yukon. During his career, he wrote fifty books for adults and twenty-two for children, popularizing Canadian history and culture and reflecting on his life and times. With more than thirty literary awards and a dozen honorary degrees to his credit, Berton was also a Companion of the Order of Canada.
Editorial Reviews
"If history could be taught in the schools the way Berton writes about it, there wouldn't be a more popular subject on the curriculum."
—The Globe and Mail
"A wonderful historical work…a book of love, ambition, guile, heroism, tragedy and cowardice."
—The Detroit News
"…a popular history as it should be written."
—The New York Times
