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Books on War of 1812


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My daughter wants to enter the DAR essay contest. The topic is the war of 1812. What are some good books for her to read to really get a flavor of that war?

 

Here's the topic:

 

Topic for 2011–2012: Pretend you were alive during the War of 1812 and had a friend who has become famous in history because of standing up for America during that exciting but dangerous time. Describe the person and how he or she stood up for America. Explain why it is important to honor such heroes when we celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the War of 1812.

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Deadlines are set by individual chapters and regions. When I was looking for info on this last weekend, I found that many chapters had just pasted the info sheet from DAR national without putting in a deadline at the bottom of the sheet.

 

However, some chapters have already closed entries.

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My daughter wants to enter the DAR essay contest. The topic is the war of 1812. What are some good books for her to read to really get a flavor of that war?

 

Here's the topic:

 

Topic for 2011–2012: Pretend you were alive during the War of 1812 and had a friend who has become famous in history because of standing up for America during that exciting but dangerous time. Describe the person and how he or she stood up for America. Explain why it is important to honor such heroes when we celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the War of 1812.

 

I would look for bios of some of the people who were around at the time.

 

There were some pretty major naval battles at the time. Here are some links to give ideas.

 

Frances Scott Key and the Star Spangled Banner. The burning of Washington.

 

The Albert Marrin book mentioned above is probably a good summary.

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The War Nobody Won by Albert Marrin is a great overview of the War of 1812.

 

Oh, I didn't know Marrin did one on that topic. I'll have to look for it next convention. He's the best.

 

I was going to say that a little book which I thought was helpful for that war was The Great Little Madison by Jeanne Fritz. She's the author of great books like Shh! We're Writing the Constitution. I actually don't care for her longer "chapter books" like The Great Little Madison, because I think she gets preachy/condescending when given too much space like a chapter book. However, at the end of the Madison book, I thought to myself, I must admit that I get the War of 1812 a lot better now. So one idea would be to skip ahead to that portion of her Madison book for an overview of key players & events. Her books are at most all libraries.

 

Julie

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