Customer Reviews

St. Patrick's Battalion: A Novel of the Mexican-American War

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

At the time of the Mexican War (1846-1848) Irish immigration to the United States was at its height. Fear and bigotry of this growing Roman Catholic population led many Protestant Americans into so-called "nativist" movements, enabling harsh treatment of the Irish and literally fueling the fire of anti-Catholic riots in American cities. In part to escape this discrimination and also to obtain American citizenship, many Irishmen enlisted for service in the army; only to find worse the hatred and abuse from their Protestant officers and fellow soldiers. This allowed the Mexicans a great propaganda weapon, one that made it easy for them to send word throughout the Irish ranks of the American army that in Mexico they would be welcomed as fellow Roman Catholics. This resulted in the desertion of hundreds of Irish and German Catholic soldiers.

James Alexander Thom's SAINT PATRICK'S BATTALION is an exciting fictionalized account of the action taken by Pvt. John Riley and others like him who could no longer tolerate being whipped, gagged and branded simply because they were of a different race and religion. Riley made his way over to the Mexican forces where he was quickly made an officer and helped form the San Patricio Battalion of artillery. The story here is told through the journal of Padraic Quinn, an Irish campboy in the American army and interspersed with the recollections of Augustin Juvero, the son of Riley's Mexican lover, who was later to become one of the valiant military cadets, 'Los Ninos Heroes,' at the 1847 Battle of Chapultepec.

Further historical reading on this shame in America's history can be found in THE ROGUE'S MARCH by Peter F. Stevens and THE IRISH SOLDIERS OF MEXICO by Michael Hogan, among others.

To start, let me establish my bonafides as a fan of Mr. Thom's work. Three of his novels sit on a shelf less than two feet from this computer. I have the featured review on one of his novels ("The Red Heart"). One of his books is on my Favorite Books List on my profile page.

So, I approached this book with much hope. Instead of his usual quality, I found this book to be simplistic, with less detail and bent on beating two points home time after time: the Irish were treated brutally and shamefully by the U.S. army during the Mexican War and the Mexican War was an unjust war.

Thom makes it clear in the opening dedication and acknowledgments that he is against the Iraq War and quite clearly he is drawing analogies between the two. However, Thom never really gets off of his twin focuses on the unjust war and the unjust treatment of the Irish. He never gets to his real strengths in his other books - bringing the reader into another world and teaching us about larger movements in history, but also about the day-to-day lives and goings on of our ancestors. Thom rarely gets beyond the superficial and that is a shame - and a loss to Thom's loyal readers because when his books are good they are fantastic.

Thom's format is the main cause of the failure of this book to be as excellent as his others. His chosen format is a diary of a 10-12 year old Irish-American boy (Quinn) with the U.S. Army and the remembrances of a Mexican man (Juvero)about his experiences during the war as a young boy 16 years later. The diary entries are the better of the two, but are often sketchy. The remembrances are very repetitive and full of Spanish phrases that must be annoying to readers who don't know any Spanish. He often comments about Manifest Destiny, the Irish and America's arrogance. It gets old - not that he wasn't right, but he made his point early and often - it's time to move on. I must admit that I started skimming his sections. I think that Juvero says it best on page 256: "Que Rollo! My preachings are a bore!"

So, to sum up: not his best work. I recommend you read any other Thom book before this one. My grade: D+.

Mr. Thom's novel, Saint Patrick's Battalion, ia a refreshing new look into the U.S. invasion of Mexico in 1846. Through Mr. Thom's description of the men (mostly Irish Catholics) who comprised the St. Patrick's Battalion, we are provided with a realistic account of the invasion itself and of the noble reasons that scores of Irish-born U.S. Soldiers switched sides and joined the Mexican Army to defend a weaker, Catholic nation. And they did it willingly and with the knowledge that they would face the gallows if American forces should defeat the Mexican Army, which of course they did. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever questioned the "manifest destiny" philosohpy that was used to justify the war against Mexico.

James Alexander Thom is my favorite author. To my knowledge, I've read everything he's published. Historical novels are my favorite genre. And he's tops at what he does. I met and talked to him on three occasions in the early 80's in Indiana. The third time his lovely wife Dark Rain was with him. They are both genuine nice people. Anytime I spot something of his that I haven't read, I'm all over it.

I've read four books about the Lewis and Clark expedition. His is head and shoulders above the others. His book "Children of First Man" was the most riveting I've ever read - and very enlightening.

He's a superb author.

Number 1 the book is great, The author writes wonderful books, and this was no exception. Hope he can keep them coming.

I am so happy with you all for taking back the hard cover, and returning my money for that and sending the soft cover.

Quite simply, this is a wonderful and fascinating book. Like One Man's Hero, it provides background to enable an understanding of why Irish immigrants in the American army would have switched sides to defend Mexico.

Having read all of Thom's novels I am increasingly disappointed at his slide into sterotypical, revisionist story telling. Reading Mr Thom's novels starting with From Sea to Shining Sea, where Americans are brave, noble frontier folk you can follow the descent of the pioneers to brutish, amoral thugs interested only in killing as many indians as possible while stealing their land. Native Americans however become ever more noble and without blemish as persecution by the evil whites increases.
Even taking into account the realities of frontier history, such simplistic stereotyping (Indian=good, Whiteman=bad) ruins what were once enjoyable novels of America's early years transforming them into just more "Evil American" trash.
This is the last time Thom suckers me out of the price of a book.