Book recommendations on the Mexican War

[Mr King]

Hello everyone! What are your book recommendations on the Mexican War?

 

[FarawayFriend]

If you take historical fiction in account also, I can recommend Jeff Shaara's "Gone for soldiers"
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0345427521/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

 

[AndyHall]

So Far From God by John S. D. Eisenhower is a good start.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

I second Eisenhower's book. It's the best one out there widely available.

There are some older books by K. Jack Bauer I like, too, but they're harder to find.

I also recommend the four-part PBS miniseries, "The U.S.-Mexican War," available on DVD.

 

[Mr King]

Thank you all for your recommendations!

 

[James N.]

No offense to Faraway Friend, but why waste time with modern historical fiction when you can have the reminiscences of Samuel Chamberlain, My Confessions, the ( mostly ) true account of a young enlisted man in the U.S. Dragoons from his enlistment at San Antonio, Tex., to his eventual desertion for the California gold fields, including battles at Monterrey and Buena Vista. Sam was also a talented self-taught artist whose scenes of army life and Mexico further enliven his account, written afterwards for his family and not published until the 1950's when one of his hand-done volumes turned up in a pawnshop and was serialized in Life Magazine!

 

[Barnesville Blues]

It only covers one Battle of the Mexican War but someone just recommended "A Perfect Gibraltar: The Battle for Monterrery, Mexico, 1846" by Christopher D. Dishman to me. I haven't finished it yet but it is quit good.

 

[Oxkern]

David Clary's 'Eagles and Empire' gives a good overview of the war.

 

[Mr King]

Hmm...this is a tough one. I think I may want to read at least to begin with, 'Gone for Soldiers'. I have Killer Angels book that Jeff's dad wrote and thought it was great except the 3rd day on Pickett's charge and like the movie version on Pickett's charge better. I would like to read and to know more on what Lee, Jackson, Hancock, Grant, Pickett etc. involvement and what they did in this war.

 

[Nathanb1]

Don't expect to get much out of Shaara's book. He's not even his dad.

I liked the Eisenhower book....a lot. Also this one, by some guy named Dr. Bruce Winders. (Curator at the Alamo for years and a darned good guy.) http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Polks-Army-Experience-Williams-Ford/dp/B008JLNEDW/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422664413&sr=1-12&keywords=mr polk's war

And like Mark, I like the PBS series. As a matter of fact, I show a good bit of it to my classes. It's fair and balanced.

 

[Mr King]

Thank you Nathanb1 for your reply. I clicked on your link but unfortunately there are no comments on this book on amazon.com but I will take your word for it! I just put this book on my wishlist.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

And like Mark, I like the PBS series. As a matter of fact, I show a good bit of it to my classes. It's fair and balanced.

You even start to feel a little sympathy for Santa Anna. That is, until he acts like himself again, which he inevitably does...

 

[James N.]

Don't expect to get much out of Shaara's book. He's not even his dad.

I liked the Eisenhower book....a lot. Also this one, by some guy named Dr. Bruce Winders. (Curator at the Alamo for years and a darned good guy.) http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Polks-Army-Experience-Williams-Ford/dp/B008JLNEDW/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422664413&sr=1-12&keywords=mr polk's war

And like Mark, I like the PBS series. As a matter of fact, I show a good bit of it to my classes. It's fair and balanced.

Bruce's book on Mr. Polk's Army was his doctoral dissertation, he also appears as one of the "talking heads" on the PBS series, but I didn't like it at all. The predictable use of reenactors was pathetic as well as inauthentic - it appeared the war was fought by the same half-dozen on each side, the Americans armed with 1858 Parrott rifled cannon and the poor Mexicans only with mountain howitzers - no wonder we won! The inclusion of the Mexican woman narrator, totally unknown to me but supposedly some sort of social history "expert", seemed like nothing more than a misguided attempt at PC which did nothing to advance the narrative.

 

[Nathanb1]

Bruce's book on Mr. Polk's Army was his doctoral dissertation, he also appears as one of the "talking heads" on the PBS series, but I didn't like it at all. The predictable use of reenactors was pathetic as well as inauthentic - it appeared the war was fought by the same half-dozen on each side, the Americans armed with 1858 Parrott rifled cannon and the poor Mexicans only with mountain howitzers - no wonder we won! The inclusion of the Mexican woman narrator, totally unknown to me but supposedly some sort of social history "expert", seemed like nothing more than a misguided attempt at PC which did nothing to advance the narrative.

LOL. I skip the bad parts. And yeah, the same three folks....ah.....and the artillery....phew.....and there's a lot left out. But if you're starving, even a scrap of moldy bread will work.

 

[18thVirginia]

Always glad to hear about the videos you show your class, nathanb1. I went to a high school in Texas that had good football and coaches who taught history and had kids see films once a week, except for my class, where I was one of only 2 girls, along with some rather unruly boys. We had a former coach who was probably the worst teacher in our whole county, so we went to all the other coaches films, at least 2 and often 3 days a week.

Although we all made fun of this coach history teacher, all those films turned out to be great experience to me at least in grasping the periods we were studying, for years afterward. You just can't compare the visual experience with reading in books alone, even when the video gets less than every single detail correct.

 

[Nathanb1]

Always glad to hear about the videos you show your class, nathanb1. I went to a high school in Texas that had good football and coaches who taught history and had kids see films once a week, except for my class, where I was one of only 2 girls, along with some rather unruly boys. We had a former coach who was probably the worst teacher in our whole county, so we went to all the other coaches films, at least 2 and often 3 days a week.

Although we all made fun of this coach history teacher, all those films turned out to be great experience to me at least in grasping the periods we were studying, for years afterward. You just can't compare the visual experience with reading in books alone, even when the video gets less than every single detail correct.

You sound much like me....except we didn't have films in the classroom. I do the "history vs Hollywood" approach. I teach, they read and discuss, then we watch portions...and I stop and ask questions and narrate a lot. Those kids learn to be picky and distrust what they see--and to research to see if what they're watching is correct. Like the PBS video we're discussing....we do whine about the same four reenactors, inaccurate weapons....heck, one of my pet peeves is that you wouldn't know anyone but Lee was IN the Mexican War! (And Grant).....totally leave out the storming of Chapultepec by that Longstreet guy and the Pickett character....and Stonewall who? McClellan who? (And McClellan's doings during the war are a hoot!).

But I figure I won't be around to criticize all the films they watch in the future--so we'd by George (no pun intended) learn to watch them with a grain of salt and the Internet at our disposal.

 

[TinCan]

I've heard the Eisenhower book is really good and it gets a thumbs up from Nathanb, Mark, and Andy, so I'm going to get it.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

... also appears as one of the "talking heads" on the PBS series, but I didn't like it at all.

Hm. I must admit I don't know enough about period infantry and artillery to detect problems with the reenactments... I'd be on shaky ground even in the ACW timeframe, let alone Mexican War.

I liked their use of quotes; especially the quotes from Grant's letters to Julia.

There were times I was uncomfortable with the "Mexican" perspective given by some of the 'talking heads,' but I tried to make allowances for their different perspective. I don't necessarily agree with what they say, but I did try to see it from their side. (Mexico did have rather a bum deal, altogether... they finally shake loose of Spain, go through internal turbulence, and then there are the Yanquis causing trouble... and Santa Anna, who was really someone Mexico would have been far better off without, all things considered. And Polk was something less than a stirring commander-in-chief... it was just desserts for 'Old Rough and Ready' to win the White House!)

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

Further... Having stumbled across the PBS series because of their use of two or three Henry Walke images (most prominently the lithograph of the bombardment of Vera Cruz), I was of course disappointed that they did not cover the U.S. Navy's part of the war, apart from the landing at Vera Cruz and a few mentions in connection with California. The riverine attack up the Tobasco (modern Grijalva) River is an important precursor when looking at riverine and coastal actions in the Civil War. But, oh well...

Expired Image Removed
Lithograph by Nebel, after original watercolor by Henry Walke