Did you like History at school? I did, a lot, but like many kids of average IQ's, the fact that we were being fed the facts gleaned from a thousand pairs of British binoculars/eyeglasses only, from almost two Millenia, did not even enter our minds, minds where the Union Jack flew proudly over a world map coloured red. But, I digress I suppose, but only slightly. In this short series of essays on the 1812 war between the USA and Britain, Jack Robinson has not fallen for this trap - we do not get the opposite perspective only, as gleaned from the best Acme Field Glasses; we get the plain, simple, honest, and sometimes brutal truth, whether it is US Privateer or Land forces in focus, or if its the British Army and Navy, and their port and brandy tinged-breathed, gaily bewigged Top Brass. This is achieved not so much through the first person of the editor, but through a perfect balancing of the presentation of official papers and reports from both sides, after in-depth research by this book's author/editor. There is a slight leaning towards Imperial injustice, but, it was classic Imperial injustice, so such a slant presented here can justifiably make the paradoxical leap from the subjective to the objective. This is not a long book, but the 60 odd pages are informative and interesting, and as Jack himself points out, reaches both scholars and those who read for leisure. Another good, solid work from Jack Robinson, very well done.