The War of 1812, Conflict and Deception

The British Attempt to Seize New Orleans and Nullify the Louisiana Purchase

By: Ronald J. Drez

Narrated by: Todd Curless

Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's Summary

Perhaps no conflict in American history is more important yet more overlooked and misunderstood than the War of 1812. At the climax of the war, inspired by the defeat of Napoleon in early 1814 and the perceived illegality of the Louisiana Purchase, the British devised a plan to launch a three-pronged attack against the Northern, Eastern, and Southern US borders. Concealing preparations for this strike by engaging in negotiations in Ghent, Britain meanwhile secretly issued orders to seize New Orleans and wrest control of the Mississippi and the lands west of the river. They further instructed British commander General Edward Pakenham not to cease his attack if he heard rumors of a peace treaty. Great Britain even covertly installed government officials within military units with the intention of immediately taking over administrative control once the territory was conquered.

Far from being simply an unnecessary epilogue to the War of 1812, the Battle of New Orleans firmly secured for the United States the territory acquired through the Louisiana Purchase. Drez offers a compelling account of this pivotal moment in American history.

The book is published by Louisiana State University Press.

©2014 Ronald J. Drez (P)2015 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic Reviews

"Ron Drez has written the single most important book on the Battle of New Orleans. His prodigious research pays off big. For the first time we understand the magnitude of Andrew Jackson's grand moment. A terrific read!" (Douglas Brinkley, author of The Wilderness Warrior)

"With the riveting narrative skill and psychological insight of the most passionate thriller writer, Drez takes us on an unforgettable excursion into the American past that shines the light of his prodigious research onto the intricately entangled political and military issues behind one of the most pivotal - and least understood - wars in American history." (Kenneth Atchity, former Fulbright professor of American Studies to the University of Bologna)

A thorough defense of the 1812 war

The 1812 war has been described as a useless conflict with no distinct victor. This well researched book show the error of this conclusion and points to the impact of victory to the United States and in particular the territory of the Louisiana purchase. The reading is somewhat monotone but acceptable for non fiction.

Dr Drez is Excellent with his research...

Well done and narrator does a good job. Dr Drez is always quite excellent and have tremendous knowledge of his material.

I only wonder if it could have been more streamlined and less focused on just the altogether important aspects and less time on problematic past authors and revisionests.

Surprising Facts Rarely Taught

the title of this book really intrigued me though the war of 1812 has not been one that I have spent very much time studying. The story in the background that this author captured really was quite intriguing and helps illuminated many factors above the war in the Battle of New Orleans that have been omitted from what we have traditionally been taught. I would certainly recommend this book. 1 drawback is that the narrator is almost like him male version of Siri and that is a little distracting. he does a nice job of attempting to change and flexion and accent and so forth when quoting a piece of text from somebody's diary or memoirs or the like although I found it to be rather distracting at times. So the narration is it the best though not the worst either and if you can get around that which I think anybody can rather easily Astoria certainly one it makes reading this book worth it.

Excellent!

Best history book that I have read. Well researched

The only drawback was the narrator lacked (Audible version) emotion.

RDH Cool H

I find this audiobook so interesting About the American War of 1812 I never knew it was a second American war after the war of independence With the British Very good history. I recommend this book. That’s war was the true fight for America 🇺🇸🇬🇧