A Short, Offhand, Killing Affair: Soldiers and Social Conflict during the Mexican-American War [Paperback]

Paul Foos (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 11, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0807854050 | ISBN-13: 978-0807854051

The Mexican-American War (1846-1848) found Americans on new terrain. A republic founded on the principle of armed defense of freedom was now going to war on behalf of Manifest Destiny, seeking to conquer an unfamiliar nation and people. Through an examination of rank-and-file soldiers, Paul Foos sheds new light on the war and its effect on attitudes toward other races and nationalities that stood in the way of American expansionism.

Drawing on wartime diaries and letters not previously examined by scholars, Foos shows that the experience of soldiers in the war differed radically from the positive, patriotic image trumpeted by political and military leaders seeking recruits for a volunteer army. Promised access to land, economic opportunity, and political equality, the enlistees instead found themselves subjected to unusually harsh discipline and harrowing battle conditions. As a result, some soldiers adapted the rhetoric of Manifest Destiny to their own purposes, taking for themselves what had been promised, often by looting the Mexican countryside or committing racial and sexual atrocities. Others deserted the army to fight for the enemy or seek employment in the West. These acts, Foos argues, along with the government's tacit acceptance of them, translated into a more violent, damaging variety of Manifest Destiny.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Just as Herman Melville made his riveting and conflicted portrait of a Mexican War veteran in The Confidence Man speak to the nation's full history and predicament, this compact, meticulously researched, and dramatic study fully recasts race, empire, and class in the antebellum United States through its soldiers' stories. (David R. Roediger, author of Colored White: Transcending the Racial Past)

Foos has a deep understanding of the society and politics of the U.S. Mexican War period. [His] scholarship is wide-ranging, reflecting a sensitive understanding of primary sources. (Richard Griswold del Casillo, San Diego State University)

About the Author

Paul Foos teaches history at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press (September 11, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807854050
• ISBN-13: 978-0807854051
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #573,059 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unflinching and brutal look at the horrors of war, March 9, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Short, Offhand, Killing Affair: Soldiers and Social Conflict during the Mexican-American War (Paperback)

A Short, Offhand Killing Affair: Soldiers And Social Conflict During The Mexican-American War by Paul Foos (History Department, Georgia State University - Atlanta) draws directly upon diaries and letters of soldiers in the Mexican-American War (1846-48), to survey and examine a bitterly fought conflict which was to change the shape of the emerging American nation. Offering an unflinching and brutal look at the horrors of war as sufferingly experienced by rank-and-file soldiers (as well as the violent, sometimes murderous and ravaging behavior many such soldiers exacted upon the inhabitants of the territory they conquered), A Short, Offhand Killing Affair fully and dramatically reveals a ruthless and darker aspect of what came to be called America's "Manifest Destiny".

11 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A significant dissappointment, November 9, 2006

By 

Scholar "18th century student" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Short, Offhand, Killing Affair: Soldiers and Social Conflict during the Mexican-American War (Paperback)

While I had initial high hopes for this book, unfortunately within 30 pages I found it to be quite unsatisfying. First, Foos' prose is so full of theory and jargon, he's fallen into the trap many (most?) academics do, which is to say, they have turned an interesting subject into an unreadable monstrosity. The books lacks lucidity, and is rather an academic study that bored this reader considerably. Why Foos can't just say what he has to say in clear, readable language is unclear.
Second, there's no conherent, overall narrative of the Mexican War here! Foos never tells the STORY of the war so as to provide context, but jumps right into the matter as if he has provided some kind of background. We never learn why the US is fighting the war, what were its major events, etc. The fact that the words "Alamo" and "Texas" do not appear in the index is telling. Foos's editor should also be held responsible for putting out such a jumbled mess as this as well.
In short--I do not recommend this book at all.

12 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars history repeats itself, September 23, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: A Short, Offhand, Killing Affair: Soldiers and Social Conflict during the Mexican-American War (Library Binding)

This lucidly written history of how American soldiers were lured into service for a supposedly noble cause and then discovered themselves in a confounding situation couldn't be more timely. Issues of racism and nationalism are shown to be as alive then as they are today.