Poltroons and Patriotsby Glenn Tucker | |
| Category: |
"U.S. History - Military" |
|---|---|
| Pages: | 656 |
| Year of Publication: | 1954 |
| Date Read: | 08/28/1987 |
| Notes: | Glenn Tucker is a veteran newspaperman who has applied the techniques of news gathering and news writing to the production of history, and in these two volumes he has produced a highly readable account of the oddest war this country ever engaged in. The young nation stumbled into this fight for reasons not easily defined, fought it with — for the most part — a maximum of inefficiency, and came out of it with nothing gained except a stout reaffirmation of its own independence. Some of the chapters about atrocities along the Canadian border make highly uncomfortable reading for Americans who like to take pride in their own past, and the story of the loss of Washington is a fine study in governmental incompetence. Mr. Tucker gives a good account of the Indian fighting which made up so large and usually ignored a part of the war, and winds up with a good picture of that traditional set piece, the battle of New Orleans. Here is a breezy venture in historical writing, competently handled. |
| My Rating: | 10 |