The Dawn's Early Light is a 1972 non-fiction book by Walter Lord about the War of 1812 Battle of Baltimore and the events leading up to it. Lord said he wrote the book because of the event's significance in American history. It is one of his 13 bestsellers. Lord recounts the conflict between Great Britain and the United States in the summer of 1814, when the British mounted a coordinated attack on Baltimore, Maryland, and its environs by land and sea. Having already suffered a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Bladensburg and the resulting burning of Washington by the British, the American forces were able to repulse the British advance on Baltimore. The climax of the battle was the Royal Navy's bombardment of Baltimore's Fort McHenry on the night of September 14, 1814. The American stalwart defense of the fort would prove decisive, forcing the British to withdraw. The battle inspired the writing of the "Star-Spangled Banner" by Francis Scott Key. Publication history The Dawn's Early Light is one of Lord's 13 bestsellers, along with A Night to Remember, Day of Infamy, and Incredible Victory. Initially published by W. W. Norton in 1972, it includes 16 pages of illustrations and several maps, such as the British advance on Washington and the movement of British forces by land and sea during the subsequent attack on Baltimore. The dust cover has a reproduction of Alfred Jacob Miller's painting, The Bombardment of Fort McHenry (ca. 1828–1830), from the collection of the Maryland Historical Society. The book had a second printing by Johns Hopkins University Press in 1994 and a third printing in 2012 for the bicentennial of the War of 1812. Narrative In the foreword, Lord writes of the event's significance in the nation's history as his reason for writing the book: "... the summer of 1814 found America threatened by national extinction, her people torn by dissension, her treasury empty, her economy in ruins, her coasts blockaded and defenseless ... Yet within eight months all had changed. America was again at peace, her people unified, her economy mending ... her position safe in the family of nations". He begins by examining British attitudes toward its erstwhile colony. Having just vanquished Napoleon, Britain was not disposed to suffer what it viewed as impertinence by the uncouth Americans. He quotes the London newspapers' contemptuous dismissal of U.S. President James Madison as "an ambitious