The U.S. War with Mexico: A Brief History with Documents

by Ernesto Chávez

Containing both official and popular documents, U.S. War with Mexico explores the events leading up to the war, the politics surrounding it, popular sentiment in both countries about it, and the war’s long-term impact on the future development and direction of these two nations.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

170 pages, Paperback

First published December 12, 2007

Reviews

[Daniel Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is actually a great book about the Mexican-American War.

There are two segments: a 33 page introduction and the rest of the book is the 53 documents, spanning from the late 1700s to the late 1800s.

The first time I read this book, I read it straight through - the introduction provided a broad outline of the war and then the documents were all clear and had a few sentence explanation preceding each text.

However, the second read-through I noticed that the introduction referenced each specific document in parantheses at the relevant point during the historical exposition. This time, I flipped between the two - reading each document as it was referenced, then returning to the introduction for the broader narrative. I found this a tremendous way to link the micro history and macro history, and would highly recommend this strategy - and more importantly, this book for embedding such a strategy.

Finally, I should note that the book does not just focus on the war itself, but also includes documents from the 1790s to the 1890s. This expands on both the origin of the conflict and its legacy.

I highly recommend this book.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, sweet, and concise. Tells you everything you need to know in as little pages as possible. Most of the book is primary source documents that the text integrates very well.

[Emery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice overview of the war, complete with a plethora of primary sources

[Jaclyn E]

Read/used for grad school class on the history of the US-Mex borderlands. Fascinating documents.

[Marlenee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and interesting information about the events that occured and how it had altered history and the future for everyone in the world, from the very moments these events began.