A Glorious Defeat: Mexico and Its War with the United States [Hardcover]

Timothy J. Henderson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0809061201 | ISBN-13: 978-0809061204 | Publication Date: May 15, 2007 | Edition: 1st

The war that was fought between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 was a major event in the history of both countries: it cost Mexico half of its national territory, opened western North America to U.S. expansion, and brought to the surface a host of tensions that led to devastating civil wars in both countries. Among generations of Latin Americans, it helped to cement the image of the United States as an arrogant, aggressive, and imperialist nation, poisoning relations between a young America and its southern neighbors.
 
In contrast with many current books that treat the war as a fundamentally American experience, Timothy J. Henderson offers a fresh perspective on the Mexican side of the equation. Examining the manner in which Mexico gained independence, Henderson brings to light a greater understanding of that country’s intense factionalism and political paralysis leading up to and through the war. Also touching on a range of topics from culture, ethnicity, religion, and geography, this comprehensive yet concise narrative humanizes the conflict and serves as the perfect introduction for new readers of Mexican history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Henderson, on the faculty of Auburn University, offers a survey of the Mexican War from a Mexican perspective. Instead of the common depiction of Mexico as the victim of the U.S. and its racist Manifest Destiny, Henderson emphasizes Mexican agency in going to war, which reflected a profound sense of weakness. Mexico's revolutionary experience had produced a virulent factionalism based on divisions of race, class, region and ideology. The Texas revolt of 1836 only made it more clear that Mexico was too weak to populate, control and defend its northern territories, but that opinion was derided within Mexico. Instead, politicians of every stripe denounced the policies of their rivals. The only common denominator was that Texas must be reconquered, even if that meant war with overwhelmingly superior U.S. military and economic power. But the Mexican people remained largely indifferent—otherwise Winfield Scott's landing at Vera Cruz and his decisive march on Mexico City would have been impossible. Mexico, unable to pursue a pragmatic strategy of negotiation and compromise, suffered—and celebrated—a "glorious defeat" that further unraveled a disunited nation. 8 pages b&w photos not seen by PW. (May)
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From Booklist

As a result of the 1846-48 war with Mexico, the U.S. absorbed considerable territory, but, as explored in clear prose in this absorbing account, the ramifications of that armed conflict stretched, for both countries, well beyond territorial loss and gain in terms of aggravating sectional disputes (centered on the spread of slavery) within the U.S and darkening the Mexican-American relationship for a long time to come. The special quality of Henderson's study is twofold: first, how carefully he explains the antecedents of the war itself; second is the expansiveness of his view, focusing equal time on the Mexican political currents that drew that country into an impossible war and the political currents in the U.S. that compelled it into an insistence that war must occur. An important aspect of this dual view of the conflict is Henderson's systematic but fascinating appraisal of why the war progressed badly for Mexico and successfully for the U.S. This unique contribution to the literature of the era is perfectly suitable to general readers. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Hill and Wang; 1st edition (May 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809061201
• ISBN-13: 978-0809061204
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #865,434 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Taut and concise narrative, June 4, 2007

By 

James V. Holton "The Ecclectic Professor" (Lakeland, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Glorious Defeat: Mexico and Its War with the United States (Hardcover)

This book is a great read on a topic that is too often ignored by Americans (North Americans, that is!)--the origins of US-Mexican relations. Packed into 191 pages, this book is concise without losing anything necessary to tell the story. Henderson zeroes in on the flip side of Manifest Destiny and discusses the impact of US expansionism on its southern neighbor. He does so without reducing the Mexicans to passive victims of US greed, but active agents in their own destiny...and their own defeat as it turns out. Henderson develops the main Mexican protagonist in this drama, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, as a full-blooded and fatally flawed character in Mexican history. Stephen Austin and his role as Texas empressario and later Texas/US patriot is also fully discussed here.

The book is also a valuable contribution to the debate over immigration from Mexico, and the pervasive hostiliy that has affected it.

Casual readers of American history may be surprised by the less than flattering image of the Lone Star State during this time.

Military buffs beware--this book does not dwell on either the military strategy or tactics used in the war.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The crisis that led to the Mexican-American War., December 17, 2007

By 

Kevin M Quigg (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Glorious Defeat: Mexico and Its War with the United States (Hardcover)

An excellent book about how the Mexican-American War took place. The author shows how the politics and evolution of both countries resulted in the war of 1846-1847. Mexico and her politicians knew they were going to lose the war, but because of stubborness and pride, they decided on the confrontation with the Americans. Polk pursued the expansion of the country out of a Manifest Destiny belief. Little of the writing is on the war itself, 95% of the book is the politics that brought about the war. I commend the author on going against the trend of writing about battles, and focusing instead on why both parties found themselves at war.

This is a nice informative read about the war. The author research his topic well and made it very readable. For those interested in this long forgotten war, this is a nice book.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dr Henderson does it again!, November 24, 2007

By 

C. A. Temm (Salem, AL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Glorious Defeat: Mexico and Its War with the United States (Hardcover)

Dr Henderson as a history teacher at AUM (Auburn University at Montgomery AL)is the resident expert on South/Central America. As I read his book, most of it came across as very familiar. He had expounded these same thoughts in several of his classes taught at the University. I have had the fortune to take several of them and can assure readers, he is as good a teacher as he is a writer.

What Dr Henderson does is blow away some very old fables created by both sides. He highlights the simple fact that Santa Anna was not the only individual in Mexico who wanted, for whatever reason, a war with the US. A faction riven Mexico, so brillantly illustrated in detail in this book stumbled into a war for many reasons, not least of course was nationalism. Santa Anna simply rode the wave to power and managed to get killed thousands of Mexican conscripts in a war against a smaller tho much better led and equipped foe.

Another fable is the one of the well equipped/trained Mexican army...no one disputes the Mexican soldiers bravery, especially the US army of the time but no one talks about the quality of the Mexican forces themselves. American regulars far outmatched their opponents in every manner. American militia units also performed better than then Mexican opponents (of course the Americans were all volunteers) The American officers also were generally of better quality and only in the engineers were the Mexicans on par with their enemies. Equipment goes without saying, in every aspect the Americans had at least equal (cavalry wpns/infantry muskets) and in artillery, naval power, logestics-the Americans dominated their enemies.

American politicans too get their comeuppance, Polk is aptly labeled the chief instigator of the actual war. His goal of controlling Texas and northern Mexico was most likely one he had of doing peacefully, but he did not back down when the threat of bloodshed was poised.

Quite rightly, Dr Henderon stays on the political side of the war. The military aspects have been done to death and anyone with even a passing knowledge of the war knows it was an excellent example of a military campaign. For those wanting to know backgrounds of such an event, this book will both indulge and surprise you.

He also has several other books on Mexico including the Mexico Reader. They are all worth the time to find and read!