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

by Timothy J. Henderson

Book Overview

Timothy J. Henderson's A Glorious Defeat provide a short, accessible account of the US-Mexican War.

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809049678
• ISBN13: 9780809049677
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux-3pl
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Short but powerful and objective

I think I chose well. The book may appear short, but powerful and objective in every phrase and paragragh. I have read some of Latin America's history of those years, and this book simply state the points as I think it was. The author clearly explain the chaotic situation in Mexico Affairs, a typical state of most hispanic countries, inherited from the spaniards, with a dominant Catholic Church, racial diversity, most people poor and uneducated, with different factions trying to take power and an economy struggling to survive. Totally different was the situation of the United States: politically stable, they knew what they want for their country and people and with a more balanced society in almost every sense. Despite the later, this is a war that the United States, until this day, have not good memories because it aggresively pursued its self-interest and took advantage of the pathetic condition of Mexico...but it was evident too that Mexico was screaming for this to happen, they just harvest its misfortune. A good book, an interesting story with peculiar personalities like Santa Anna and interesting places to know like the Chapultepec Castle.

The crisis that led to the Mexican-American War.

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.

Dr Henderson does it again!

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!

An intriguing discussion

A GLORIOUS DEFEAT: MEXICO AND ITS WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES is a fine survey of the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848 - as told from the Mexican perspective, which sets A GLORIOUS DEFEAT apart from U.S.-centered coverages, which would depict Mexico as the victim of the war. Henderson here emphasizes Mexico's reasons for going to war with the U.S., offering chapters which approach the results from the Mexican perspective and considering why the U.S. did not annex Mexico. An intriguing discussion highly recommended for any collection strong in American or Mexican early history. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

Taut and concise narrative

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.