Description
Book SynopsisAs military campaigns go, the War of 1812 was a disaster. By the time it ended in 1815, Washington, D.C., had been burned to the ground, the national debt had nearly tripled, and territorial gains were negligible. Yet the war gained so much popular support that it ushered in what is known as the era of good feelings, a period of relative partisan harmony and strengthened national identity. Historian Nicole Eustace''s cultural history of the war tells the story of how an expensive, unproductive campaign won over a young nation—largely by appealing to the heart.
1812 looks at the way each major event of the war became an opportunity to capture the American imagination: from the first attempt at invading Canada, intended as the grand opening of the war; to the battle of Lake Erie, where Oliver Perry hoisted the flag famously inscribed with Don''t Give Up the Ship; to the burning of the Capitol by the British. Presidential speeches and political cartoons, tavern songs
Trade Review
"Insisting that the pen is mightier than the sword, Eustace presents the War of 1812 more as a cultural event than a military one and examines the nation that emerged from the war, re-formed by aggressive Republican party rhetoric. . . . A powerful analysis of the political rhetoric the war generated." * Carroll Smith Rosenberg, Journal of American History *
"This is far and away the most important book written on the War of 1812 in several decades." * David Waldstreicher, Temple University *
"Probably no book published on the occasion of the bicentenary of the War of 1812 offers so many new insights into the War of 1812 as Eustace's. The role of gender and race in popular representations of the war but also their relation to the burgeoning American nationalism in the war years had hitherto yet to be addressed in such a compelling manner." * Reviews in History *
"With this second book, Nicole Eustace establishes herself as one of the premier cultural historians of the early American republic. Eustace paints the War of 1812 as a moral as well as emotional conflict. She shows how the war's supporters pushed the idea that all Americans could contribute to the nation by expanding the population, and that love, marriage and propagation were key forms of American liberty as well as expressions of patriotism. Women and even African-Americans could be enlisted in parts of this project. The only people left out completely were the original population of American Indians. In making this argument, Eustace shows the importance of the war to American history on the eve of its bicentennial." * C. Dallett Hemphill, author of Siblings: Brothers and Sisters in American History *
Table of Contents
Preface. Emotion, Persuasion, and the Meaning of War
Chapter 1. Celebrating Love, Liberty, and Progeny United States, Circa 1811
Chapter 2. Failures of Feeling as National Disasters Detroit, August 1812
Chapter 3. Romantic Stories of Republican Conquest on the Great Lakes Lake Erie, September 1813
Chapter 4. Demographic Strategies and the Defeat of Tecumseh Moraviantown, Canada, October 1813
Chapter 5. Liberty, Slavery, and the Burning of the Capital Washington, D.C., August 1814
Conclusion. Ardor and Triumph New Orleans, January 1815
Notes
Index
