The War of 1812 is coming online for the duration.
A team of students led by Canadian historian Andrew Smith (who teaches at Coventry University in the UK, and who blogs at The Past Speaks, here) is going to bring us the War of 1812 day by day as it happened, but two hundred years later. (see here for details about the twitter feed @Warof1812Live)
The technique has been done to much success elsewhere, notably for the Second World War (see here).
The series of tweets will not only take us through the key events and personalities of the war but will also direct us to the digitized primary documents of the war so that we can follow the work in as detailed a fashion as we want.
So first read Alan Taylor's recent history of the war (and go back to Pierre Berton's two volumes if you want) then read on and on... and enjoy.
Thanks for this information, Chris! I am glad you mentioned Berton's 1812 book as well. My experience is that not many historians give Berton his due (not just about the War of 1812, but about our history in general) since he chose to write for everyone.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't seen anyone fill his shoes in bringing history alive for that most elusive of all entities, 'the average Canadian.'
Looking forward to lots more on the War of 1812 this year.
Cheers,
Roderick Benns