The Invasion of Canada

The book and its sequel

The book is an account of the first year of the War of 1812, and the events leading up to it. Berton wrote that this history is neither military nor political. "This is, rather, a social history of the war, the first to be written by a Canadian." Details of the book were drawn from memoirs and diaries of both common soldiers and commanding officers, as well as official military correspondence.

The story of the war, to its conclusion, was continued in the follow-up book, Flames Across the Border: The Canadian-American Tragedy, 1813-1814 (1981).