books:

	Invading Mexico: America's Continental Dream and the Mexican War, 1846-1848 Joseph Wheelan PublicAffairs, 2007 - 520 pages average customer review:based on 8 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Mexican War was America?s first truly modern war. Steamships ferried troops, daguerreotypes captured the spectacle of infantry and cavalry marching off to battle, newspapermen reported from the front lines for the first time, and telegraphs helped speed news of victories to eager readers back home. For the first time, large numbers of the regular Army?s field-grade officers were West Point-trained. Weapons technology advances such as the mobile field artillery, the Colt six-shooter and the Sharp?s Rifle gave the U.S. Army daunting firepower. These advantages ensured victory even when Mexican troops outnumbered Americans by as much as 4-to-1.

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A book that was a pleasure to read

While there are countless books on the civil war, not many that I have found cover the mexican war quite like this one. It's a page turner, you finish the book knowing more then you did before. Since the victors offten write the history this shows a little of the mexican point of view, not a lot but a bit. I am sure the Mexican point of view would be interesting to read. And what really happed somewhere in the middle. But this book does give insight that was lost in my history classes


Wheelen does a nice job

If you want to learn indepth material about the Mexican War, get this book. Mr. Wheelen is an excellent writer and the entire book flows together nicely to the point that you will not want to put it down because you will want to know what happens next. Very enjoyable and highly recommended

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Very good, but where are the maps?

This is a terrifically interesting history of the US-Mexican War, with the political background to the conflict and the sequence of campaigns brilliantly illuminated by the testimony of participants in the conflict.

However, it is a major drawback -- as mentioned by other reviewers -- that so few maps are included to help the reader better visualize the continental scope of the war, and that what maps do exist are quite general in nature. Only one battle -- Buena Vista -- is mapped, and there isn't even a single map showing the entire area of operations, much less maps of California or the Southwest. I might have rated the book 5 stars except for this problem, although there are other shortcomings.

Whelan offers a fascinating narrative about the competing politicians and generals whose ideological differences and personal jealousies played out amidst the unfolding conflict. For example, I've read several other good histories of this war, but none of them so clearly defined how the Democrat/Whig rivalry permeated the relationships between generals in the field and their civilian superiors in Washington, or how tensions between West Point-educated Whig officers and Democrat volunteer officers spilled over into the conduct of operations.

Some subjects could have been explored in more detail. Wheelan provides very little background on the Mexican political context leading up to the war, and in fact the whole is told largely from an American viewpoint. More material on U.S. political dissenters would have been useful. The influence of the Mexican War on trends and events leading to the Civl War is frequently mentioned, but not discussed at all thoroughly.

In recent years, James K. Polk has emerged from relative obscurity to secure a high reputation as one of America's most successful presidents. In "Invading Mexico," Polk is a rather sinister figure whose greed for rich Mexican territories and dishonest manipulation of the facts leading up to war leave a very bad impression of his moral character. And, of course, the author's intentions are rather clear in offering many precise (if not often stated) parallels between Polk and G. W. Bush in this regard. Wheelan mentions that Polk's late 19th century reputation was much lower than now precisely because of the Mexican War, but provides no contemporary documentation.

It was fascinating to learn that Ulysses Grant believed the Civil War was a "karmic" punishment for US aggression against Mexico.

And a quote from Lt. Colonel Ethan Allen Hitchcock, "Our people ought to be damned for their impudent arrogance and domineering presumption!" neatly sums up how much of the rest of the world feels about today's only superpower. How little we have changed since 1846...

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Nice Book, but Some Doubts.

I enjoyed this book account of the US-Mexican War 1846-1848, but I have some doubts about many of the stories of the period. I do not agree with many of the accounts of the major battles and casualties. I think that the US and Mexican sources should be used in this book that details both sides of the conflict. Also, the casualties acounts should be studied more closely.


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