<DIV>At the outbreak of the War of 1812, America's prospects looked dismal. It was clear that the primary battlefield would be the open ocean?but America's war fleet, only twenty ships strong, faced a practiced British navy of more than a thousand men-of-war. Still, through a combination of nautical deftness and sheer bravado, the American navy managed to take the fight to the British and turn the tide of the war: on the Great Lakes, in the Atlantic, and even in the eastern Pacific.<p> In <i>1812: The Navy's War</i>, prizewinning historian George C. Daughan tells the thrilling story of how a handful of heroic captains and their stalwart crews overcame spectacular odds to lead the country to victory against the world's greatest imperial power. A stunning contribution to military and national history, <i>1812: The Navy's War</i> is the first complete account in more than a century of how the U.S. Navy rescued the fledgling nation and secured America's future.</DIV>