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Welcome. As a narrative historian, I have chosen to tell stories; my way of understanding the past is to see people in action, going about their lives, often at times of change and challenge. I am drawn to tales well told; I aspire to do exactly that even as I pay minute attention to historical accuracy.
My method is to learn of the lives of the men and women, drawing upon period diaries, letters, newspaper accounts, logbooks, images, memoirs, government records, and other primary documents. I attempt to recount historic events with sufficient attention to fact and detail that those who inhabited the past would recognize what I write as good and true.
My new book, Mr. and Mrs. Madison’s War (Bloomsbury Press, January 2012), recounts essential moments in a largely forgotten conflict; for me, as for the reader, the journey is one of rediscovery. The dual perspective in the book is that of President James Madison, who declared the war, and of Dolley Madison, his partner in marriage, politics — and war. She helped James see it through, despite having her house burned to a masonry hulk (as pictured, above, in an aquatint engraved by William Strickland, after an 1814 painting by George Munger; Library of Congress).
Occasionally, by the way, I find the past and present have an odd way of intersecting; recently that happened with Mrs. Obama and Mrs. Madison, which prompted me to write a short opinion piece, “Michelle Obama? Meet Dolley Madison.“
I’m delighted to report that people seem much inclined to learn about this war; a schedule of events is taking shape, as I’ve been invited to talk to a variety of groups. Furthermore, early readers of the book have been enthusiastic.
“Well-researched and thoughtful . . . Mr. and Mrs. Madison’s War makes for a terrific introduction to the war that gave us the song we sing before every sporting event. It also explains well why the phrase ‘bombs bursting in air’ matters 200 years later.”—James A. Percoco, Washington Independent Review of Books
“Hugh Howard has turned the least known and understood war in American history into a thrilling, Technicolor, wide-screen epic of naval battles, brutal backwoods skirmishes, villainous intrigues, and stirring heroism. … [T]hanks to his prodigious research, fine eye for the telling detail, and vivid prose, the War of 1812 seems as contemporary and compelling as yesterday’s battlefield dispatches from the Middle East.” —Thurston Clarke, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Campaign
“Hugh Howard’s engaging and energetic Mr. and Mrs. Madison’s War . . . is a worthy look at a rite of passage making the nascent United States into a nation that, although far from a world power, would be here to stay.”—Casey Common, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
“Hugh Howard provides us with vividly written accounts of some of the more dramatic highlights of the War of 1812. Readers with particular interest in the Chesapeake Bay campaigns of 1814 will find much to enjoy here.” —Professor J.C.A. Stagg, editor of The Papers of James Madison
“The author delivers a skillful history of the war itself…. Howard provides illuminating asides about [Dolley Madison’s] activities as Washington’s premier hostess and a far more colorful correspondent than her husband. An entertaining portrait of the era’s first couple and the social life of the young nation’s elite.” —Kirkus Reviews
Mr. and Mrs. Madison’s War has also been chosen as a Main Selection of the History Book Club and as a Selection of the Military Book Club and Book of the Month Club.
