In the years immediately preceding the War of 1812, England was dominated by a faction that pledged itself not only to defeat Napoleon but also to maintain British commercial supremacy. The two main points of contention between England and America-impressment and the restrictions imposed by the Orders in Council-were direct results of these commitments. America finally had no alternative but to oppose with force British maritime policy. In addition...

"A quest story to find the three pieces of a magical engine which can either win the War of 1812 ... or stop it altogether"--

Discover the war that shaped North America in this fully illustrated companion to the PBS television documentary. It has been almost two full centuries since a thin line of Canadian militiamen turned back an American army at Crysler’s Farm on the banks of the St. Lawrence, and the tattered Star-Spangled Banner flew through the night and into the dawn over Fort McHenry, surviving a storm of Royal Navy shot and shell. However, the approach of the...