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Very Brilliant Affair: The Battle of Queenston Heights, 1812
Toronto: Robin Brass Studio, 2003
After decades of wonder and three years of serious research and writing,
Robert Malcomson's A Very Brilliant Affair is here.
Malcomson, a resident of St. Catharines, has developed an international
reputation as a naval historian of the era of the War of 1812. This
book marks his first full-scale venture into a military campaign.
Everyone seems surprised that it is the first full scale military study
of the most important action in 1812 and one that has been memorialized
like no others. E. A. Cruikshank produced his pamphlet about the battle
in the 1890s and there have been several popular biographies of Brock,
but none of them were based on primary sources or examined the wide
range of other sources. As he did with Lords of the Lake: The Naval
War on Lake Ontario, 1812-1814 and in Warships of the Great Lakes:1754-1834,
Malcomson conducted my research in Ottawa and Washington and all points
in between. Authorities on the War of 1812, such as Donald E. Graves,
Donald Hickey and Wesley Turner compliment the finished product with
this kind of comment on the back of the dust jacket: "Based on
meticulous and wide-ranging research, this book makes a significant
contribution to our understanding of the causes, course and outcome
of that battle."
The basic facts about the book: hard cover, 9"x6"; 328 pages;
eleven chapters, preface, prologue, epilogue; five maps, six battle
diagrams, 50 illustrations and photographs; glossary; eight appendices;
endnotes, bibliography, index; ISBN 1-896941-33-8.
Brilliant Affair retails in the bookstores for $37.95. Malcomson sells
signed copies from his home. The price is $34.00 which includes tax
and postage. Contact him at: rmalcomson2@cogeco.ca
