The Greatest Fury: The Battle of New Orleans and the Rebirth of America

Davis, a retired Virginia Tech history professor, delivers a prodigious deep dive into Andrew Jackson’s strategy and tactics of the final battle of the War of 1812. In Davis’s telling, this fight for a major American city catapulted Jackson, a “bully” and war hero “who preached democracy but showed the instincts of a dictator,” into the White House. The slowness of early-19th-century communications meant that when Jackson planned his assault on British forces creeping toward New Orleans, a gateway for exploration and commerce in the West that several nations coveted, the U.S. and Great Britain had already negotiated an end to the War of 1812. Though not a professional soldier, Jackson displayed military skills when it counted: in one pivotal confrontation with the British, he ably split his forces to attack the redcoats from the rear at night. The most riveting scenes Davis describes focus on the aspects of warfare that have changed little over the centuries: the degradations of bivouacking and dying. There’s a wealth of detail here, but not much context about the larger geopolitical situation; readers will need knowledge of the period to keep up. Early American history enthusiasts, though, will want to take a look. [em](Oct.) [/em]