Customer Reviews

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

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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".

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.

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.

This book crystalizes the events of the Mexican war into an honest appraisal of American society at the time.