What So Proudly We Hailed: Essays on the Contemporary Meaning of the War of 1812

The War of 1812 was a transformative conflict that left important legacies, but some of the fundamental challenges that confronted U.S. policymakers two centuries ago still resonate. This book explores these issues and offers a revealing perspective on a problematic war of choice.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 164 pages
Publication date: 30 December 2018
Publisher: Brookings Institution

The United States government goes to war with distrust between political parties and Congress divided, unprepared for financing and contingency plans. The executive branch suffers from managerial confusion and in-fighting, and the military invades a foreign country expecting to be greeted as liberators but encounters stiff resistance. The conflict drags on longer than predicted and ends inconclusively. This is similar to what happened two hundred years ago, and What So Proudly We Hailed looks at the War of 1812 in part through the lens of today's America. It asks what Americans learned and not learned from the experience, what instructive parallels and distinctions can be drawn with more recent events, and how it shaped the nation. The essays explore issues ranging from party politics to sectional schisms, distant naval battles to the burning of Washington, and citizens' civil liberties to the fate of Native Americans caught in the struggle. The War of 1812 was transformative, leaving important legacies in its immediate wake and in later years. However, some of the fundamental challenges that conf.

Weight: 288g
Dimension: 226 x 149 x 12 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780815734192