Team of Giants: The Making of the Spanish-American War

by Matthew Bernstein

If not for an unlikely alliance among a bespectacled cowboy, a former Confederate general, and a millionaire newspaper publisher, the Spanish-American War might never have been. How these three outsize characters—Theodore Roosevelt, Joseph “Fighting Joe” Wheeler, and William Randolph Hearst—helped ignite the war that established the United States’ offshore empire is the rousing tale that Matthew Bernstein tells in Team of Giants.

From his days as a Dakota deputy sheriff, Theodore Roosevelt had dreamed of leading a cowboy regiment into battle. With a little help from his friends, in 1898 he got his wish. While Roosevelt raised the Rough Riders in San Antonio, Congressman Wheeler delivered bellicose speeches from the US Capitol, and Hearst pulled out all the stops in the San Francisco Examiner and New York Journal. With the destruction of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor and President William McKinley’s call for war, the two greatest star reporters of the era, rivals Richard Harding Davis and Stephen Crane, headed for Cuba to do their part. In Bernstein’s sweeping history, these towering figures come to life as they set in motion events that would put a period on the Civil War era, transform the global media landscape, and alter geopolitics for the twentieth century—with the plight of the Cuban people serving as a backdrop for a world-class contest of wills and wiles.

A stirring narrative built on rigorous research, Team of Giants is a fresh account of the role the martial ambitions of these men played in a war that would launch the American Century and set each man on the path to his own place in history.

320 pages, Hardcover

First published December 17, 2024

Reviews

[KOMET · Rating 4 out of 5]

TEAM OF GIANTS: The Making of the Spanish-American War sheds light on 5 men - William Randolph Hearst - one of America's first media titans, as well as father of yellow journalism; Theodore Roosevelt; Congressman and Civil War veteran Joseph "Fighting Joe" Wheeler of Alabama; the journalist Richard Harding Davis; and bohemian writer/journalist Stephen Crane - and the pivotal roles each played during the 1890s in creating a climate in the U.S. that led to the Spanish-American War and the subsequent rise of the United States as a world power.

I think the greatest value that TEAM OF GIANTS has is that it provides the reader with valuable insights into the influence the corporate news media in conjunction with the Washington political establishment can wield in shaping societal attitudes and public policy. Something no less relevant in today's world than was the case in 1897 and 1898.

[Lorraine Herbon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second book in a row that I rate as “meh.”

This should have been a slam-dunk read for me. I’m interested in all the characters who make up the narrative: TR, Hearst, Crane, Davis, and Wheeler. And I’m interested in the Spanish-American War. All the ingredients are there.

So, what went wrong? First, I’ve got to admit that I was completely spoiled by the brilliance of Gail Bederman’s Manliness and Civilization. That book covered roughly the same ground and was absolutely fascinating in its analysis. This book lacked any kind of meaningful analysis. There was some surface stuff that floated to the top, but mostly it was just a story of five men and their experiences leading up to and during the war. Nothing new here.

I was also spoiled by the amazing Megan Kate Nelson. This author uses her tried-and-true method of telling a historical narrative through mini biographies of different characters. But where she feels unlimited in the characters she chooses, taking both famous and not-so-famous people to tell her story, this guy just went for the low-hanging fruit of famous white men.

I guess I need more from a history now. There was a time when I would have been satisfied with a surface telling. But no more. Bring on the meaty analysis!!