Four Wars of 1812

Gr 7 Up—Published for the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, this attractive book uses a pictorial format to examine the viewpoints, goals, and outcomes for its four major participants: Britain, Canada, the United States, and Native American nations. It opens with maps of the North Atlantic and North America and a short introduction about the war. Its four chapters, each focused on one combatant, are made up of spreads that feature either a color photo of period artifacts and weapons or reproductions of artwork or political cartoons on one side and a one- to four-paragraph essay that describes how it illustrates a significant aspect or perspective about the war on the other. It is an effective format, one that will help readers understand that the goals and achievements of the major combatants were so different that they experienced four different wars. However, it does not provide a comprehensive overview, and background information and details are limited. MacLeod is mostly objective about each nation's perspectives, goals and achievements, and failures, but does identify Canada as the clear "winner" of the war. This book will not replace more traditional overviews such as Miriam Greenblatt's War of 1812 (Facts On File, 2003), which provides significantly more detail about causes, battles, and outcomes, but it does offer a different and more international perspective about an almost-forgotten conflict, making it a good supplementary choice for secondary collections.—Mary Mueller, formerly at Rolla Junior High School, MO