Pierre Berton, "Flames Across the Border: 1813-1814" (1981)

The second volume of this series is just as good as the first, if not better. It continues the tone and approach of the first volume, essentially establishing a near seamless link with the first book.

As Berton explains in his 'Author's Note', his effort considers "the war from a Canadian point of view, [and] is not intended primarily as a military or political history... This is, rather, a social history of the war, the first to be written by a Canadian. I have tried to tell not only what happened but also what it was like; to look at the struggle... as a combatant struggling in the mud of the battlefield; to picture the war from the viewpoints of private soldiers and civilians as well as from those of generals and politicians; to see it through the eyes of ordinary people on both sides - farmer and housewife, traitor and spy, drummer boy and Indian brave, volunteer, regular, and conscript." In this respect, Berton was very successful.

Additionally, he notes, "I have invented nothing. Dialogue is reproduced exactly as reported by those who were present." This attribute is one of the most engaging about Berton's writing in general, and in particular, about this series. As I mentioned in my review of the first volume, he really does capture a sense of the personality and tone of those whose lives he describes.

Of course, the books are not without their limitations, however minor these might be. For instance, I read the first and second volumes back to back, however, about 50 pages a day, and by the end of the total 900 pages, have to admit that the names and events were all starting to mush together. The focus on individuals does sometimes allow the larger flow of historical events to get lost. This may, in some respects, be Berton's subtle way of speaking to the outcome of the war, and the relationship between individuals and national decision-making, particularly in an era when decisions made in London, or Ghent by the final treaty-makers, might not reach North America for two months. (The taking of Michilimackinac before the Americans there knew they were at war is another good example.) On the other hand, his interest in the stories of individuals may have overcome the trope within which these lives were narrated: the War of 1812.

Nonetheless, a really great overview or introduction to the Canadian perspective on the War of 1812. Eminently readable, not mentally taxing, and informative.