Wesley B. Turner

The War of 1812

Wesley B. Turner

Tragedy and farce, bravery and cowardice, intelligence and foolishness, sense and nonsense – all these contradictions and more have characterized the War of 1812. The real significance of the series of skirmishes that collectively made up the war between 1812 and 1814 is the enormous impact they have had on Canadian and American views of themselves and of each other. The publication of The War of 1812: The War That Both Sides Won in 1990 provided a contemporary look at the period, and included such developments as the 1975 discovery of the Hamilton and Scourge on the bottom of Lake Ontario, and the 1987 discovery of the skeletons of casualties at Snake Hill. Now, a decade later, Wesley B. Turner has updated The War of 1812 to include the volumes of new research that have come to light in recent years. All this new material has been incorporated into this interesting and informative overview of a crucial period in Canada’s history.

The Astonishing General

Wesley B. Turner

Winner of the 2011 OHS Donald Grant Creighton Award This book is about Major General Sir Isaac Brock (1769 – October 13, 1812). It tells of his life, his career and legacy, particularly in the Canadas, and of the context within which he lived. One of the most enduring legacies of the War of 1812 on both the United States and Canadian sides was the creation of heroes and heroines. The earliest of those heroic individuals was Isaac Brock who in some ways was the most unlikely of heroes. For one thing, he was admired by his American foes almost as much as by his own people. Even more striking is how a British general whose military role in that two-and-a-half-year war lasted less than five months became the best known hero and one revered far and wide. Wesley B. Turner finds this outcome astonishing and approaches the subject from that point of view.