Customer Reviews

The War of 1812 in the Age of Napoleon (Campaigns and Commanders)

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I like much of Dr. Black's previous work, and he is at his best when he offers new comparisons, insights, etc., esp. in a big picture framework. This book seems like Black's attempt to get a volume out on 1812 just in time for the bicentennial. Here when he tries to get down in the weeds on the war, he really gets a number of facts wrong, and it weakens the usefulness of the book. It would have been better had he contextualized the war on the world stage, or given us some new angle on strategy, etc. Instead, the book falls flat. It also suffers from poor editing--see the paragraph on the Napoleonic War on p. 72 for instance, which is a jarring and wholly unnecessary digression. In several places each chapter, Black's writing style obscures his meaning, and should have been corrected by the series editor. The maps are not great, esp. where they show battle sites but do not give the name or year of the battles. One wonders too whether the series editor or publisher was also trying to get a 1812 book out, and did so too quickly to produce a quality product.