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Ships of Oak, Guns of Iron

the War of 1812 and the Forging of the American Navy
Jun 23, 2013
Ships of Oak, Guns of Iron: the War of 1812 and the Forging of the American Navy --- by Ronald D. Utt --- For Canadians, the War of 1812 is often seen as that war which forged Canada by trouncing those nasty Americans once and for all: it has become a touch-stone of Canadian identity that forever differentiates us from Americans. For Canadians, the War of 1812 was, seen in retrospect, a “big thing”. In the grand scheme of things, however, it was merely a side show of a much larger conflict among the European powers. Say the world “Napoleon”. Well written, at times seeming like a novel, this scholarly written book may well tax the patience of many a reader much as it did mine. 500 plus pages would be too long for anything but the most riveting of novels and this book isn’t riveting. Maybe by definition no history rivets. I got to page 360. Perhaps I’ll come back to read the rest of the book on the installment plan.