The Age of Fighting Sail: The Story of the Naval War of 1812

by C. S. Forester

Overview

On June 18, 1812, the United States declared war on Britain, a whelp attacking its mother. The slogan "Free Trade and Sailors' Rights" said it all: we had had it with British interference in our trade and shipping.

But it's one thing to tangle with a bigger dog, another to whip it. How we brought it off is the story told in this book.

"THE AGE OF FIGHTING SAIL is a history of the War of 1812--the war that made America a world power and, paradoxically, an isolationist one." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780848833299
Publisher:	Amereon, Limited
Publication date:	05/28/2013
Pages:	284
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.70(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

C. S. Forester (1899 - 1966) wrote several novels with military and naval themes, including The African Queen, The Barbary Pirates, The General, The Good Shepherd, The Gun, The Last Nine Days of the "Bismarck" and Rifleman Dodd. But Forester is best known as the creator of Horatio Hornblower, a British naval genius of the Napoleonic era, whose exploits and adventures on the high seas Forester chronicled in a series of eleven acclaimed historical novels. Over the years, Hornblower has proved to be one of the most beloved and enduring fictional heroes in English literature, his popularity rivaled only by Sherlock Holmes.

Born Cecil Louis Troughton Smith in Cairo, Egypt, Forester grew up in London. At the start of World War II, he traveled on behalf of the British government to America, where he produced propaganda encouraging the United States to remain on Britain's side. After the War, Forester remained in America and made Berkeley, California, his home.

The character of Horatio Hornblower was born after Forester was called to Hollywood to write a pirate film. While the script was being drafted, another studio released Captain Blood, starring Errol Flynn, based on the same historical incidents about which Forester was writing. Rather than seek another movie project, and to avoid an impending paternity suit, Forester jumped aboard a freighter bound for England. By the end of the voyage he had outlined Beat to the Quarters, which introduced the now legendary character Hornblower, Bush, and Lady Barbara.

Forester died in 1966 while working on Hornblower During the Crisis.

Author biography courtesy of Time Warner.

Date of Birth:

August 27, 1899

Date of Death:

April 2, 1966

Place of Birth:

Cairo, Egypt

Place of Death:

Berkeley, California

Education:

AlleynGuy's Medical School of the University of London