Home > Strange Fatality: The Battle of Stoney Creek, 1813 Item

Strange Fatality: The Battle of Stoney Creek, 1813
RatingCustomer rating is 3 of 5
List Price$27.95
Add to Shopping Cart
Our Price$20.40
See our Partners Price
Lowest New Price$20.40
Lowest Used Price$17.53
Features
  • ISBN13: 9781896941585
  • Condition: NEW
  • Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Categories 19th Century   20th Century   Pre-Confederation   War of 1812   Antebellum   General   Canada   Paperback   Printed Books  

Similar products
Capital in Flames: The American Attack on York, 1813
Capital in Flames: The American Attack on York, 1813		The United States Army in the War of 1812: Concise Biographies of Commanders and Operational Histories of Regiments, with Bibliographies of Published and Primary Sources
The United States Army in the War of 1812: Concise Biographies of Commanders and Operational Histories of Regiments, with Bibliographies of Published and Primary Sources		Niagara 1814: The final invasion (Campaign)
Niagara 1814: The final invasion (Campaign)		With Zeal and With Bayonets Only: The British Army on Campaign in North America, 1775-1783 (Campaigns and Commanders)
With Zeal and With Bayonets Only: The British Army on Campaign in North America, 1775-1783 (Campaigns and Commanders)		Long, Obstinate, and Bloody: The Battle of Guilford Courthouse
Long, Obstinate, and Bloody: The Battle of Guilford Courthouse

Description
In the spring of 1813, the largest amphibious force in American history to this point - 6,000 troops aboard 140 vessels - landed near the mouth of the Niagara River, routed the British garrison and captured Fort George. It was the second consecutive American victory and a mark this events of 1813 would redress the calamities of 1812. The badly mauled British army reeled westward, its leadership uncertain where, or how, the retreat would end. The American forces were poised to bring the critical blow the War Hawks in Congress had dreamed of when they predicted a four-week war to subdue the British province. 10 days later, in a field near Stoney Creek, the promise of this triumph was smashed in a terrifying night action which hinged on a single bayonet charge this carried the American artillery and decapitated the American force. Little understood, even by Canadians, Stoney Creek was one of the much decisive reversals of fortune in the War of 1812 and determined the fate of the colony this would become Ontario.

Customer Reviews
Customer rating is 4 of 5  Excellent Book on a very important battle   2010-03-03
By G. Collins (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)
In all my years of reading about the 'War of 1812' I have always thought that the twin battles of Crysler's Farm and Chateauguay were probably the most decisive ones of the entire war. But the Battle of Stoney Creek has always been at the back of my mind as also very decisive.

Mr. Elliot has given us a great book on this small but critical battle in the War of 1812. He has more than half won me over into thinking that perhaps it was the most decisive battle of the war.

The book has many illustrations and some great old photos of the battlefield. Canadians have needed a book like this for a long time.

Thank you Mr. Elliot

Customer rating is 3 of 5  From a native 'Cricker'.   2009-08-14
By Schmadrian
I'd been looking forward to this book since I saw an article in the Stoney Creek News several months ago. (Ironically, my brother Stateside was able to get his hands on a copy before me.) I've spent almost half my life in Stoney Creek. (I did the mental calculations just this past weekend, walking through the parts of the town where the book's battle took place.) I spent most of my formative years here. I played in Stoney Creek the actual body of water, trekked around the Devil's Punch Bowl, the Bruce Trail is a route I run as an adult, most of my screenplays have some element of Stoney Creek to them, my current novel is set here...

...and through all of this, throughout my entire life, the Battle of Stoney Creek has always been there, as social underpinning, and the Monument in so many ways, (with the changes going on in the 'City of Hamilton' of which we are now -regretfully- a part) is THE visual mnemonic for the town.

So it was no small surprise to read Mr. Elliott's telling of this historical event, and reap the benefits of his exhaustively researched and meticulously laid-out efforts. (Before I go any further, I do want to express my gratitude that he's spent the time and effort he has in 'getting it right'. It's no small feat that he's accomplished, gathering what he's gathered, presenting it in so cohesive and cogent a way. Having done some research myself in my own writing efforts, I can appreciate entirely what lengths he quite clearly went to in producing 'Strange Fatality'. So the most effusive kudos to him.)

I'm no fan of war.

And I'll stop that tack right there, before it turns into a polemic.

Even having confessed this, I was compelled to read this history, and to keep reading it once I'd begun. Mr. Elliott made my participation that much easier by not constructing some kind of paean to war, to 19th century warfare. It was descriptive, yes; he presents just enough detail to accomplish the requisite accuracy, but doesn't get bogged down in the absolute minutiae. Because he goes after the human elements with almost as much dedication as he does the military and political ones, the result isn't strictly a piece of cold reportage. It's a solid, studious piece of 'fact clearing-up'-age.

However...

This is the third book of historical non-fiction I've read in the past month, and I suspect that when it's done well, it's understandable when someone says 'I don't read fiction; why do I need to read something that's been made up, when there are so many well-written true stories out there?'. But I've read some of these great retellings of history, and I've read less-than-great retellings of history...and the latter make me wish that their authors had taken a novelistic approach.

'Strange Fatality' is not the piece of captivating reading I was hoping for. I'd like to say that, because I now know the 'truth' behind the Battle of Stoney Creek (that it's actually not a piece of military wizardry, but rather a mélange of missteps, mistakes, a dearth of talent and a whole lot of luck), that my disappointment can be attributed primarily to the integrity of the facts of the day. (That is, in the end, it wasn't the stuff of particularly high drama.) But unfortunately, there's more to my disappointment than merely 'the materials he was given', referring of course, to Mr. Elliott.

Anyone who sets out to 'explain' or 'relate' an historical occurrence, is, by definition, a storyteller. One of the best I've come across, where presenting notable events or developments, is Simon Winchester. There is a glee that comes off the page, an energy that gets transmitted when Winchester is doing what he does best, bringing all of his considerable talents of researcher, historian and *storyteller* to bear on his subject. I didn't find any of this with 'Fatality', and for me, this was the tome's greatest downfall. (Second to this, and contributing to it, is a decided lack of editorial oversight.)

A great storyteller can transport you even with the most threadbare of tales. They can elevate the so-so to the transcendent. As I recently expressed in a tale of my own: 'it's all in the telling'.

I am grateful that my hometown has been so well-served by Mr. Elliott's 'Strange Fatality'. I only wish that its delivery had been as profound (in an entertainment sense) as the event itself turned out to be in regards to how the rest of the War of 1812 unfolded, and that almost a century and a half later, I was able to grow up here, in Stoney Creek, as a free and proud Canadian.

(My personal rating: 7/10)


3 SOTHEBY S 19TH 20TH CENTURY PRINTS AND PAINTINGS , The 19Th-Century Holiness Movement 1998 Hardcover , WITH THANKS AND APPRECIATION 19TH CENTURY CARD ART, TULLIE S RECEIPTS 19th Century Plantation Cooking 1976, A Biohistory of 19th-Century Afro-Americans The Burial, 4 Mark Twain Samuel Clemens 19th century, Pride of Men Ironworking in 19th Century West Central , The China Station 19th century history scarce , Young America by Claire Perry CHILDHOOD IN 19TH CENTURY, Christie s Auction Catalogue - 19th Century Sculpture , French Flower Painters of the 19th Century by Fugier, 19th Century French Mahogany Book Case - REDUCED , LADIES FASHIONS Mid-19th Century Illustrated Orig 1850, LADIES FASHIONS Mid-19th Century Illustrated Orig 1850, LADIES FASHIONS Mid-19th Century Illustrated Orig 1850,

Copyright © 2010 DesireBooks.com. All rights reserved.

We offer books from many categories like Arts & Photography, Biographies & Memoirs, Business & Investing, Children's Books, Comics & Graphic Novels, Computers & Internet, Cooking, Food & Wine, Entertainment, Health, Mind & Body, History, Home & Garden, Law, Literature & Fiction, Medicine, Mystery & Thrillers, Nonfiction, Outdoors & Nature, Parenting & Families, Professional & Technical, Reference, Religion & Spirituality, Romance, Science, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Sports, Teens and Travel.

Home | About Us | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Other Sites |