"The first book-length treatment of the 1812 blockade since Mahan's, Dudley's well-reasoned analysis is certain to influence future thinking about the most used tool in a sailing navy's arsenal.".

"This work presents a useful overview of the history, theory, and practice of blockades during the age of fighting sail. It also provides an evaluation of the naval capabilities of the belligerents, a comparison of the blockade of the United States to British blockades of Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, and a discussion of the importance of geography in the theater of conflict.

Readers will be fascinated by the story that emerges of the modern world's first superpower at war with a developing nation and of a conflict between civilized states that threatened to devolve into little more than a campaign of terror. To support Dudley's examination of documentary evidence are more than thirty tables, charts, maps, and illustrations."--BOOK JACKET.