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Coog
08-11-2012, 08:31
Submit a Book ReviewBook Title:
The Naval War of 1812 Author:
Theodore Roosevelt ISBN:
0-375-75419-9 Category:
History Format:
Paperback and Hardback Summary:
In my opinion the best book you can get on the naval war of 1812. It gives very detailed descriptions of the battles, the ships, and the men that participated in the War of 1812, both on the Great Lakes and the Ocean. The book was written by Theodore Roosevelt when he was in his 20's, a remarkable work for someone his age in a time before computers and modern electronics. It is available in paperback and easily found at a very reasonable price. Some older hardback editions can be found by collectors. If I could only have one book on the war, this would be it.

10080

7eat51
01-29-2013, 15:42
Thanks for recommending this. I have it on order. I could barely write my name when I was in my 20s.

Cmmdre
04-12-2013, 23:48
Thank you very much for recommendation on such a good book Bobby. I will heed your advice and add this interesting and detailed account of the naval war of 1812 to my library. :hatsoff:

Coog
04-12-2013, 23:53
Your welcome. Eric has his copy now and likes it. You won't be disappointed.

Northern Wolves
06-21-2016, 17:47
This is the Holy Grail of fighting age of sail history books for me, even though it covers only the War of 1812, it has no peers. If you want something to listen to while you do SOG miniatures, this is all you need.

I'm 43 and I was a book in hand purist from a tiny tot until 2014, no kindles, nothing but a real book would do for me. I then got hooked on audiobooks and have since knocked out about 20 books from Audible.com since and this one has seen the most repeat listens. (You can save bookmarks and create notes for them now in Audibles phone, tablet and PC app and I have at least 30 or so for this one: 'President vs Belvedira' 'United States vs Macedonian' etc.)

Audio sample at this link
http://www.audible.com/pd/History/The-Naval-War-of-1812-Audiobook/B0081HRD22/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srTtl?qid=1466551815&sr=1-1

It is without a doubt the most accurate and definitive account of the naval portion of the war, Roosevelt has a methodical way of laying every event out, meticulously counting broadside weight, and describing how he did so, nominal weight and actual weight taking into account the real weight of the shot used, every turn, luff, what sail was used etc. He relies heavily on the captains logs and any court martial proceedings and in the book version everything is footnoted; he devastatingly dismantles the chauvinistic work of William James and he also embarrasses previous American writers with the same energy. More than any author I have ever read I truly believed he was after the truth of the matter.

If anyone here is a fan of the flowing and descriptive language of the age of sail, also found in good use in the Aubrey-Maturin series, for that alone it is a wonderful read or listen as Roosevelt makes great use of naval terminology of the era.

This is my go to book for doing miniatures or woodworking in the garage.

(A new feature on audible is that I can send one book for free from my Audible account and I have been saving it to send this one, if you can convince me you would listen to it if it were not for the money, it's yours :moneygone: )

DeRuyter
06-23-2016, 13:00
Northern I won't disagree with you but some of our British friends and fans of James may disagree!

I have the print book but I may have to try Audible now.

Naharaht
06-24-2016, 01:16
It is available as a free e-book from Project Gutenberg.

Bligh
06-24-2016, 01:54
That is music to my ears Dave.:clap:
It will free up money for another ship then.:minis:
Rob.