The War with Spain in 1898 [Paperback]

David F. Trask (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 28, 1996

“Remember the Maine!” The war cry spread throughout the United States after the American battleship was blown up in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898. Americans, already sympathetic with Cuba’s struggle for independence from Spain, demanded action. Brief and decisive, not too costly, the Spanish-American War made the United States a world power.

David F. Trask’s War with Spain in 1898 is a cogent political and military history of that “splendid little war.” It describes the failure of diplomacy; the state of preparedness of both sides; the battles, including those of Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders; the enlargement of conflict to rout the Spanish from Puerto Rico and the Philippines; and the misconceptions surrounding the war.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Spanish American War is remembered more for its enormous political ramifications than for the actual fighting. It marked the end of the Spanish empire in the New World; secured Cuban independence (under U.S. oversight); transferred ownership of Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico to the United States; propelled war hero Theodore Roosevelt to the vice presidency and soon the White House itself; and, most important, signaled the rise of the United States as a global superpower. The War with Spain in 1898, David F. Trask's definitive account, balances the political and military aspects of the conflict. Highlights include the sinking of the U.S. battleship Maine in the Havana harbor and Roosevelt leading his Rough Riders in a brave charge up San Juan Hill. A Mort Kunstler painting of Admiral George Dewey attacking the Spanish fleet at Manila (where he won a spectacular victory) graces the cover.

Review

"The book's virtues are many: the author's often persuasive judgments, the scrupulous care with which he treats sources, the illuminating integration of American, Spanish, Cuban, and Filipino perspectives... This is, in sum, a work that will long remain the major reference volume on the war of 1898." American Historical Review. "[Trask] examines many of the political and geographical ramifications so often overlooked in popular histories. This is all deftly presented and the battle scenes are exciting." Library Journal.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 654 pages
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press (August 28, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803294298
• ISBN-13: 978-0803294295
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,525,708 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best single volume history of the war, June 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The War with Spain in 1898 (Paperback)

A reader seeking to understand the causes and consequences of the War of 1898 would do well to begin with Trask's analysis. The volume is a broad overview of a pivotal moment in the development of U.S. foreign policy, but it manages to preserve clarity and insight despite its scope. It sharply undermines the standard revisionist interpretation of American behavior, forwarded for example by Perez and Foner, which holds that the United States engaged Spain in a war over Cuba in order to keep the island for itself. It does so by convincingly demonstrating that domestic politics in the United States and Spain set the two nations on a collision course with each other (but see Offner for the best presentation of these politics), although it does not say enough about how racism allowed the United States to ignore the legitimacy of Cuba's claims to independence. It mostly succeeds by showing how simple accidents of history, such as the de Lome letter, the mysterious explosion of the Maine, and the conquest of the Philippines by the United States (which was undertaken for reasons related to basic military strategy, not sinister imperial ambitions) prodded events along and restricted the legitimate options available to policymakers. In retrospect, a war entered into for ostensibly humanitarian reasons but resulting in a global empire for America seems obviously to have been the product of selfish, two-faced conspirators. As Trask's thoroughly documented and ably argued narrative reveals, however, sometimes intellectually coherent interpretations say more about the interpreter than the events themselves. A loaded moment in the history of the United States, Spain, Cuba, and the Philippines, the War of 1898 has generated almost as many interpretations as authors. For the best and least biased account of this episode, consult Trask.