Customer Reviews

Eagles and Empire: The United States, Mexico, and the Struggle for a Continent

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There are several other histories of the Mexican-American War. This is the best, in my opinion. David Clary is the first writer to truly understand the military dimension of it, and that's obviously a pretty big part of the story. And he tells the story dramatically, and what a great story it is. It's so fascinating to watch the young West Point turks such as Grant and Lee win their spurs, along with older commanders like Davis, Taylor, Kearny, and Scott. And there were some good commanders on the Mexican side also, and let's not forget the Napoleon of the West, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna . . . the cast of characters is incredible. Great leaders, great battles--it all adds up to a great story, dramatically told. The author wrote one of my favorite American history books of recent years, Adopted Son (about the touching father-son relationship between Washington and Lafayette), and this one is also top-notch American history.

Disappointing and biased account of the US-Mexican War of 1846-1847. The United States armed forces, particularly the volunteer units, are portrayed as constantly harrasing, robbing, raping and pillaging the people of Mexico, leading to, in the author's opinion, the entirely understandable reaction of the populace in entering into guerilla warfare. Much of this may be true but documentation is lacking, and this was probably not as dominant feature of the conflict as is portrayed in the book. Almost all decisions of the United States government and commanders are portrayed as stupid, incompetent or worse. While the morality of the United States efforts can be debated, ulitmately, the war did achieve the goals of the American administration, and the author's stressing of constant incompetence is therefore questionable. The ineffectiveness of the Mexican government is portrayed, but without the condescending attitude the author displays towards every United States initiative. As is too often the case with military history, maps are inadequate, not all battles and campaigns are shown, and some strange selections have been made. For example, there is no campaign level map showing Scott's march to Mexico City, while there is a map of various uprisings against the Mexican government from its inception to long past the Mexican War, even though many of those uprisings are not discussed in the text.

Good book. Lousy Kindle experience. Small print and faint printing reproduction of maps make following the action frustrating and overly difficult. Buy the hard copy and enjoy the reading experience.

"Poor Mexico; so far from God, so close to the United States". I read that quote several years ago, and it certainly shows in this excellent new history of the relationship between Mexico and the U.S.. While most books on the Mexican War concentrate almost exclusively on the war itself, this book delves into the decades before the war began, and then takes the reader up to 2008.

We are getting short biographies of the major personalities in this era, particularly Santa Anna, who hovered over Mexico for many years as almost an evil spirit. His on-again off-again times in power are a testament to how the Mexican government was just not capable of running the country. There were always rebellions in places to quash, and coups led by one of the numerous generals to put down.

When it comes to the war itself, the book goes deeply into it, much more thoroughly than others that I have read. An example is the book's telling the story of the San Patricios, which is something not covered most places. The American government doesn't come out of this book looking very good, especially President Polk, who was paranoid and a vicious political partisan. The generals on the U.S. side weren't much more competent, and the war was won not necessarily by their superior knowledge, but rather by the technological advantage they had at their disposal.

This book does not gloss over the atrocities committed by the U.S. volunteer troops, particularly the Texians, against the indigenous population. It seems fair to say that more Mexican civilians were murdered by our side than were Mexican soldiers in all of the battles combined. The author does not shy away from this distasteful subject, and that is to his credit.

If you've never read anything about our relationship with Mexico, and how it developed over the years, I strongly recommend this book. It will open your eyes, and you will learn quite a lot!

Clary's style is brisque yet engaging, thorough though succinct. It is an amazingly comprehensive treatment of an otherwise extremely complex conflict. Clary's treatment of the Mexican War however produces an unusually balanced perspective seen from both sides, melding them together so as to leave his readers thirsting for more detail. His distinctive approach adroitly and quite successfully illuminates pungent cultural comparisons, significant demographic disparities, and crucial economic contrasts which amply fill the void so long ignored in this important aspect of Westward Movement historiography. Eagles and Empire is the "Go To" source book High School and College faculty should use as their first primer on this subject. Clary's title itself is a double entendre fraught with significance for this one tome that finally brings it all together.
Dr. Michael Zeiler

Finally, a history of the Mexican-American War that looks at the total picture. Clary deals equally and objectively with both major parties in the conflict plus the Indians, the various factions in Mexico, the Mexican peoples in what is now the United States and the hero bandits. I loved the hero bandits. They have many parallels today.

Eagles fills in all the gaps. It begins at the beginning and brings it up to the consequences of that war today.Speaking of today, you'll see striking similarities with present wars. You'll wonder why we don't ever learn. Why do we think we know the enemy when we actually are so wrong?

Our national leaders neet to read this book. They'll learn it's all happened before.

I'm about one-quarter through "Eagles and Empire" and find myself fascinated with the historical facts presented therein and with Clary's finely-honed abilities as both historian and raconteur. The amount of detail is phenomenal and the author expertly untangles each story line and each character portrait, discusses it in exquisite detail, and reweaves each thread into his rich tapestry of historical storytelling.

I much appreciate that Clary does not state a thesis then set about presenting the facts that prove it. Rather he exposes the results of his research and seems content to allow the reader to draw his own conclusions. Along the way, we remind ourselves that historical figures are rarely the wonderful heroes or absolute villans that some would have us believe. Like us, most of the famous names in history were often conflicted, unsure of their mind, their means, or their motives, and were often unwilling or unable to learn from their own mistakes.

So far, Clary is not shy in revealing the mistakes, missteps, and follies - on both sides - that led to war. I'm confident that he will address the blunders and brutalities of the war's battles with equal evenhandedness. This of all books on the subject deserves to be translated into Spanish and used as a point of departure for future discussions by fair-minded people on both sides of the border.

31 Jan 2011:

Clary did not disappoint. The remainder of this work lived up to my expectations and the standards the author set in the first quarter of the book.

One of my three favorite books on the subject!

Review by Harold J. Weiss, Jr. (Leander, TX)
The historical writings of David Clary have been noted for thoroughness, prodigious research, erudition, and vivid language. This book does not disappoint. The author has written a comprehensive study of the ins and outs of the land and sea warfare in Mexico, in the American Southwest, and in California. He paints a picture on his broad canvas of armies clashing, shells exploding, and men (even women) dying in gory scenes. Clary covers better than most writers the guerrilla war by both sides and the resulting atrocities--which became a larger conflict than just the actions of the Texas Rangers and the Mexican "hero-bandits." The author also surpasses other historians of the war in his vivid, even caustic, characterizations of the military and political leaders, particularly Santa Anna, President James Polk, and Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott. This is the book to buy and read about the Yankee invasion from the North. Clary is a writer par excellence.

I enjoyed the book, but it is still another version about the conflict between the US and Mexico, from the 19th century till now. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book because the author expressed the conflict from the US and Mexican viewpoints; ie the soldiers,guerrillas,and the civilians who were caught in the battles in Mexico during the 19th century. Therefore, this book can be useful as a resource for further studies about the Mexican War (1846-1848) and the Texas Revolution (1835-1845)in the future.

This is without a doubt the best one-volume history of any war ever written. Clary is true to his word in covering both sides of the conflict, as well as its origins and aftermath. I agree with the other reader who said that our national politicians (and those of Mexico or any other country, I might add)should be required to read this before they get us into the next mess. But that aside, this is narrative history at its best, exciting, always interesting, and very often entertaining, and of course informative. I recommend it to all, as you will not be disappointed.