The Naval War of 1812 is Theodore Roosevelt's first book, published in 1882. It covers the naval battles and technology used during the War of 1812. It is considered a seminal work in its field, and had a massive impact on the formation of the modern American Navy. Theodore Roosevelt graduated from Harvard University in 1880, and was soon after married to Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt. While attending Columbia Law School and living in Manhattan, Roosevelt began completing research on a book he had started while still at Harvard. He had already completed two chapters of the book, and had finished it by December 1881. Roosevelt set out to write about a subject that both technically and historically challenged him. He decided on chronicling the naval battles between the British and American navies during the War of 1812. He tried to analyze the facts as unbiasedly as possible, looking at both American and British documents from the period, as well as some others from Continental Europe.