Marshall Bastable

Historian suggests War of 1812 reading

The War of 1812 was a turning point in Canadian, American and First Nations histories, says Marshall Bastable, yet, like the recent war in Afghanistan, deciding how to remember and commemorate it is a problem.

“Much attention is given to which side won, but there are other important questions too,” says Dr. Bastable, a sessional instructor in the history department. “How did the various people at the time see the war? Was it a popular war? Was it a civil war? Was it glorious or a war full of terrible suffering and atrocities?”