AN AMERICAN, SIR

A moderately colorful, moderately satisfactory tale built around the War of 1812 when the country was divided by British leanings, subterranean plots, and patriotism at low ebb. Jeremy peabody, son of a wealthy Boston family, having made a fiasco of his life at home, runs away to New York, boards a privateer, and lands in the thick of the war and a succession of hot-water episodes. Taken prisoner by the British he escapes, only to be captured by Americans who doubt his nationality until he finally gets a chance to fight with his own countrymen and is reprieved by General Jackson. Change-ringing on an old pattern.