Top

We have updated our Privacy Policy Please take a moment to review it. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the terms of our updated Privacy Policy.

When Britain Burned the White House

On sale

2nd September 2013

Price: £12.99

The Paddy Power Political Book Awards, 2014

Select a format

Selected: ebook / ISBN-13: 9781848546127

Disclosure: If you buy products using the retailer buttons above, we may earn a commission from the retailers you visit.

As heard on BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week.

Shortlisted for the Paddy Power Political History Book of the Year Award 2014.

In August 1814 the United States’ army is defeated in battle by an invading force just outside Washington DC. The US president and his wife have just enough time to pack their belongings and escape from the White House before the enemy enters. The invaders tuck into the dinner they find still sitting on the dining-room table and then set fire to the place.

9/11 was not the first time the heartland of the United States was struck a devastating blow by outsiders. Two centuries earlier, Britain – now America’s close friend, then its bitterest enemy – set Washington ablaze before turning its sights to Baltimore.

In his compelling narrative style, Peter Snow recounts the fast-changing fortunes of both sides of this extraordinary confrontation, the outcome of which inspired the writing of the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’, America’s national anthem. Using a wealth of material including eyewitness accounts, he also describes the colourful personalities on both sides of these spectacular events: Britain’s fiery Admiral Cockburn, the cautious but immensely popular army commander Robert Ross, and sharp-eyed diarists James Scott and George Gleig. On the American side: beleaguered President James Madison, whose young nation is fighting the world’s foremost military power, his wife Dolley, a model of courage and determination, military heroes such as Joshua Barney and Sam Smith, and flawed incompetents like Army Chief William Winder and War Secretary John Armstrong.

When Britain Burned the White House highlights this unparalleled moment in American history, its far-reaching consequences for both sides and Britain’s and America’s decision never again to fight each other.

What's Inside

Read More Read Less

Reviews

The Times
Peter Snow's account of this extraordinary event in British-American relations reads like a military thriller, each chapter raising the tension with a mass of detail and a kaleidoscope of characters who transform this book from what could have been a dry, chronological account into a riveting romp . . . Snow adds an extra ingredient - a boyish enthusiasm for his subject . . . a meticulous and fascinating account
Max Hastings, The Spectator
A stirring tale
The Spectator
The result is superb. When Britain Burned the White House is an exemplary work of history - lucid, witty and humane, with terrific pace, and so even-handed that it will surely be received as well in America as here
BBC History Magazine
Snow builds his account on the voices of those who fought and witnessed the campaign, from nervous US militiamen to Ross, Cockburn and Dolley Madison, the president's resourceful wife. Written with verve and insight, this is a fitting reminder of a remarkable interlude in a war that deserves to be better known
Washington Post
[An] excellent account . . . Snow, an experienced British journalist, has told the story of those engagements with brio and a fine gift for making sense of the complexities of battle . . . a fine example of serious and literate popular history
Library Journal
Snow's narrative is authoritative and absorbing, his profiles sure and compelling, his judgments considered and fair, and his documentation most impressive
Publishers Weekly
Never before has this story been told more fully or more engagingly, with greater empathy for both sides, or with greater balance. The pace is brisk, the characterizations sure, the judgments done with a light touch. The book distinguishes itself by rounding off the story of Washington with the subsequent Baltimore attack-both part of the larger British Chesapeake campaign. For the story of that campaign, this is now the narrative to read
Kirkus Reviews
With ample quotes from English letters and diaries, Snow ably brings out the humanity of his subjects